Virtual
by AuraFighter23
Summary: The death game Sword Art Online has trapped millions of players inside with the only way to exit is to go through all 100 floors and defeat the bosses that reside in each. If that was not bad enough, dying in the game means death in the real world. Some aspects of Log Horizon are used. Disclaimer: I do NOT own SAO or Log Horizon. I only own my OC's. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

A New Virtual World

 **AN: This is my try at a new, non Pokémon, story. This story mainly follows the SAO plot line with different characters and bosses as well as some changes to the overall plot. Both minor changes and major changes. The story is takes place in the US because that's the country I am most familiar with. It also takes the classes and sub-classes from Log Horizon, meaning magic and archery are included in this story. The majority of the skills and spells are of my own creations. Also, I am still planning on adding new chapters in Resistance and the next season of Team Stardust will still come out at the end of December. Now, without further adieu, the first chapter of "Virtual".**

 _April 23_ _rd_ _, almost seven years ago. That was the day it all started. The day that I and thousands of other people became trapped in the death game. My name is DJ. It's not my real name, but it's the name I go by. I'm a male of the age of 17 years old, I live in Ohio, and I'm a survivor of the death game, Sword Art Online. My psychologist told me that writing about the events that unfolded will help me move on. I guess I'll start from the beginning._

 **April 23** **rd** **. 2022**

"... and when you square two hundred and sixty by X you get a value of seven. To get this you have to..." Ms. Krane said. She was a fairly elderly women with pale skin, gray eyes, and graying brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. She war a lavender button up shirt with a long black skirt. She was very strict and also had the uncanny ability to put almost everyone to sleep.

I yawned, resting my head on my open palm, fighting to keep my eyes open. I glanced at the clock and I was elated to see that there were five minutes left in class. I silently cheered and turned my attention back to Ms. Krane, not wanting to give her an excuse to hold me any longer than necessary. This was my last class of the day and I wanted to get home to play it.

At long last the final bell rang and the whole class and I bolted towards the door. "Don't forget we will have a test over the material we covered today on Monday!" Ms. Krane called to our retreating backs.

I quickly said made my way around the scores of people that lined the hallway, chatting with their friends. I personally did not have that many friends. Sure, I had a few people that I talked to and sat with at lunch, but I did not have anyone close. I left all my close friends behind when I moved here last year from Nashville, Tennessee. I still keep in contact with them, but I still miss them.

I exited the school and preceded to walk back home. I live only a few minutes away from the school, meaning that school buses did not stop at my house. I hated winter for that reason.

I live with my mother in an average two story home. My sister used to be there, but she is currently enrolled in college and she lived on campus. My father died when I was really young so it has always been the three of us. It got annoying at times, living in a home where I was the only guy in the house, but I got used to it after a while.

When I got home I did not see my mom's car in the driveway. I remembered that she said that she was picking my sister, who was visiting for the weekend, up from the airport after she got off of work, so I would be home alone until about eight. Plenty of time to get started.

I unlocked the front door, kicked off my shoes, and climbed the stairs towards my room. I entered my room and let out a long sigh as I set my backpack down and looked around my room. My walls were painted blue, my second favorite color. There was one bed, a desk, complete with a lamp, computer, and a gray helmet, with an auxiliary cord attached to it, next to it, an average size closet, and a dresser with a mirror hanging over it and several pictures on it. I glanced at the mirror and looked myself over. I was about five foot six with light brown skin and my dark brown hair styled into dreadlocks which hung slightly above me shoulders. My eyes were a strange green-gray color, strange because I am the only one in my family that does not have either brown or hazel colored eyes. I was wearing a plain black t-shirt with blue jeans, my usual style.

I tore my eyes from the mirror and looked at the pictures that stood on my dresser. Each one was of me with friends or family, except for one which depicted a man that seemed to be an older me, except their hair was cut short instead of stylized in dreadlocks. This was my father. A lot of people said that we looked alike, except for the hair, but we had almost opposite personalities. While he was more outgoing, but calm and collected, I was introverted, energetic and fun, around those I am comfortable with. An odd combination, but that is who I am. I tended to hold up in my room and read or play video games. Speaking of video games...

I made my way over to my computer and turned it on. Once it was on a put in the game, the game that changed everything. Sword Art Online, a VMMORPG (virtual massively multiplayer online role playing game). I picked up the gray helmet, known as a nerve gear and placed it on my head. I plugged the cord into my computer and laid on my bed, waiting for the game to start. I looked at my ceiling through the black visor, smiling to myself.

"Link start!" I said and my world changed.

My vision went white then multiple colors shot by my vision. Five blue circles appeared with the words of the five senses on them. They then turned green, indicating that they were functioning. A Blue bar appeared asking for my preferred language. I clicked English and another bar asking for my username and password. I quickly put them in and my account appeared. I clicked on it and it took me to character creation.

It first asked to pick a class. There were twelve in total; guardian, samurai, monk, assassin, swashbuckler, bard, cleric, druid, kannagi, sorcerer, summoner, and enchanter. The first three were part of the tank class, a group made to take hits and do damage. The next three were more of the DPS' (damage per second), they specialized in doing multiple hits to a foe. They generally had low attack power due to their combo speed. The final six were magic oriented, with low health and high mp (magic points), something that was unique to the final six classes. The first three were mainly healers and the other three specialized in offensive spells buffs.

I chose the swashbuckler class, deliver high speed combos. While assassins have the highest damage output, they have less defense than the other weapon classes. The swashbuckler class, while not able to do as much damage as the warrior classes or the assassin class, could deal continuous attacks on enemies. It also had fairly decent defense when compared to the other weapon classes. Next the game asked for a sub-class. There were a variety of sub-classes to choose from, but I settled for the tracker subclass, which would allow me to track enemies and increase my stealth along with my speed.

Next came the actual character customization. I set my character to five seven. It was close my own height so that when I entered the game I would be able to move without stumbling around because I am not used to my height. I learned that the hard way. I also set my eye color and skin color to match my own. I looked through the hair styles and sighed. They never had dreadlocks as a hair option in any MMORPG or RPG I have played. I settled on dark brown straight hair that stopped at the top of my shoulders with bangs that covered my forehead. It then asked for a character name. I chose DJ since it was my nickname.

With all that done, a blue box that gave a picture of my character and asked if this was the design I wanted. I clicked yes and everything went dark.

I then felt like I was in control of my body again and I opened my eyes. When I opened my eyes I was greeted with the sight of a paved road with pillars along the sides. I looked up and saw a clear blue sky with clouds lazily floating by. Looking around I saw there were hundreds of people walking back and forth along the path that lead to a town. The Town of Beginnings, the starting area for all players located on the first floor of Aincrad, a giant tower with a hundred floors.

I looked down at myself and saw I was wearing the standard weapon class clothes which consisted of a long sleeve, dark blue shirt with silver trim on the end of the sleeves and on collar, black pants that did not impede my movements, and leather armor, that cut off over my lower torso, over my shirt. I also had black boots and matching black finger-less gloves.

I held out my right pointer finger a white menu screen appeared. I hit inventory and equipped the standard short sword that came with the swashbuckler class. The blade and sheathe materialized onto back, the hilt poking out over my right shoulder. I smiled and clenched my fists in excitement.

"SAO," I whisper. "I'm back."

 **Town of Beginnings Floor 1**

I raced down the streets of the starting town of SAO, passing numerous people and booths. The place had not changed much since I was here for the beta. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was one of the beta testers for this game. The other beta testers and I only made it to floor ten, which was the cap of the beta, but the game was amazing. The graphics, the mobs, the bosses, everything was just amazing! When I had first started out I chose the assassin class, wanting to do a high amount of damage quickly, but I then learned that they were like a glass canon and could only take a few hits. After that I experimented with other classes and sub-classes and eventually I settled with the class and sub-class I am currently using.

I pulled myself from my thoughts and walked up to one of the booths and used the starting money that the game system provided to purchase some health potions. I then ran west through the streets wanting to get to the fields just west of the town in order fight some mobs so I could level up some. I was stopped, however, by a shout.

"Hey, you!" I turned and saw some one running up to me. He was also dressed in the standard warrior outfit; a long sleeve shirt that was red with gold around the neck and shoulder area and dark beige pants. He also had the same leather armor that I had. His boots were a dark brown color. His character was about the same height as my character and was Caucasian with medium length black hair that was slightly spiked upward and dark brown eyes. His sword was strapped to the left side of his waist. He finally reached me and slumped over, placing his hands on his thighs, breathing heavily.

"Thanks for stopping," he said in between breaths. He straightened up and gave me a wide smile. "I seem to know your way around here. That means you were one of the beta testers, right?."

"Yeah?" I said uncertainly, unsure of what this guy wanted.

"Well, I'm new here and I was wondering if you could show me the ropes," he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Umm... I don't know..."

"Please!" he pleaded. "This is my first game using the nerve gear and I have no idea what I'm doing!"

"Uh..." I said. "I guess it couldn't hurt..."

"Thank you so much!" he said enthusiastically. "The names Reaper by the way and I'm a samurai. Nice to meet you."

 _Reaper?_ I mentally questioned. It was an odd name, but hey. We are in a video game. "I'm DJ and I'm a swashbuckler. Like wise."

"DJ? That's an odd name. But hey, this is a video game."

Seriously? He should talk. I sighed. What had I gotten myself into?

 **Starting Field**

I resisted the urge to laugh out loud as I watched Reaper get hit by a boar. The boar looked like a normal boar from the real world with black fur except it had glowing red eyes that were narrowed in anger. We had just entered Starting Field after I had suggested that he buy several health potions. I had told him to fight some boars, a low level mob that roamed these fields, to see where he stood in terms of skill. He was fairly good, but he knew nothing of his weapon skills, which led to him sent flying by a boar.

"Grah!" Reaper shouted in aggravation. "Why can't I beat this thing?!"

"Because your not using your weapon skills," I stated.

"Weapon skills?" he asked.

Instead of answering I walked by him and unsheathed my blade. The boar zeroed in on me and snorted angrily. It pawed the ground and charged at me, releasing an angry squeal. I looked at the boar impassively before sidestepping the charging boar. As it ran by my sword glowed a light blue and I swung my blade upward delivering a glowing red gash across the boar's flank. Several small, red pixels flew from the gash simulating blood. The boar gave a pained squeal and stumbled to the side.

"In order to use a weapon skill," I began. "you have to use the right motion input. When the motion input is correct, the system ensures that the weapon skill is executed correctly. You should instinctively know the correct motion inputs of all weapon skills you know."

"Motion...input," Reaper muttered, turning his attention back to the boar. He held out his blade horizontally, causing his blade to glow red. He then shot towards the boar and delivered a long horizontal slash to the boar's side. The boar gave a final squeal before bursting into thousands of small blue pixels. A white screen then appeared in front of us showing us the experience, items, and Cor (the currency of the game) that we had earned from defeating the boar. "I did it!"

"Congrats," I said sarcastically. "You beat a level one boar."

"That thing was only level one?!" Reaper asked incredulously.

"Yep," I said. "Though, as you saw, using sword skills makes it easier to beat mobs. There are a multitude of skills, ranging from weapon to support skills. Each class gets their own set of weapon skills that are unique to the weapon they use. It is the same for the sub-class you choose. For example; my sub-class is tracker, meaning the support skills that I learn are related to tracking and stealth."

"So, since my sub-class is hitman..." he began.

"Then you learn support skills that will help you on quests or allow you to get a bigger reward. I honestly don't know since I've never played a hitman," I said. "But you have to be careful with using sword skills."

"Why?"

"Because when you use a weapon skill the system temporarily takes control of your body, allowing you to execute feats that only masters of our chosen weapon could do. This creates a small delay between when the system gives and takes control from you. During that delay you are left wide open for an attack. That's why it's a good idea to be mindful of your surroundings."

"I see," he said with a nod. "But it's still really cool. Whoever designed this game is a genius."

"That would be Kane Harrison (AN: I did say I was using original characters)," I said. "He created this game as well as the nerve gear."

"Cool," Reaper said. "Let's keep going. I want to hit level five!"

We continued to defeat the various mobs of the fields, including boars, wolves, and rabid squirrels, Trust me, they were a lot more viscous then they sound. Before we knew it, the sun had stared to set covering the sky in orange light. I opened my menu and saw that it was seven fifteen in the evening. I had about forty-five minutes before my mom and sister got home.

"Whew," Reaper said, sitting done and looking at the sunset. "Time sure went fast."

"Yeah," I muttered, sheathing my sword and gazing at the landscape. The field looked like any normal field with bright green grass and large pine trees. What was unusual was that was that there were various floating islands, also fields, suspended around the main field. Each island was another area of the first floor. The Town of Beginnings could be seen on one of these islands.

"It still amazing how much detail they put in this game," Reaper said, gazing at the sky.

"Yeah, I was speechless during my first dive," I said.

"Is this the first game you played with the nerve gear?" he asked.

"No, I played several other ones, but this is my first MMORPG."

"That's cool. This is my first game, though you could probably figure that out," Reaper said with a slight chuckle. "I'm glad I live during this time, where we can experience these kind of advances."

"Yeah, I can't imagine living in any kind of time," I said truthfully. We remained in the same spot, taking in the sight of the virtual sun setting before Reaper got to his feet.

"Well, I should probably get going," he said. "I'm meeting up with a few friends in an hour and I need to get something to eat." He turned and gave me a smile of gratitude. "I want to thank you for helping me with getting used to the game. If there's anything that I could do to repay you..."

"You don't owe me anything," I said, raising my hands and shaking my head. "I was planning on coming here anyway, so it's no biggie."

"Well, thanks again. I guess I'll see you around," he said, extending a hand.

"Yeah, you have my contact information if you need me," I said, taking his hand and shook it. "Maybe we'll see each other during a floor boss."

"Yeah," he said, opening his menu. I turned around and looked at the setting sun. "That's weird," he said, causing me to look at him with a confused expression. "There's no logout button."

"Huh," I said. "It should be at the bottom of the main menu."

"Well I'm looking there and it's not there," Reaper said irritably.

"Hold on," I say as I open my own menu. True to Reaper's words the logout button was not there. "That's weird."

"It must be some kind of bug, right?" Reaper asked. "I mean it is the first day of official service. There's bound to be a few bugs."

"That's a pretty major bug. You'd think something like that would be the first thing that the game designers would fix, especially since it was there during the beta," I muttered, a frown on my face. "I'll try to contact a GM." I scrolled through the menu and clicked the GM button, but nothing happened. "That's odd. I can't reach anyone."

"The hell?" Reaper muttered. "Are there any other ways to log out? Like removing the nerve gear?"

"Unfortunately, that's impossible," I said. "The nerve gear is designed to intercept all brain waves concerning movements, meaning-"

"-We can't move our bodies as long as we're wearing the nerve gear," Reaper finished.

"That's right. The only way for us to disconnect is for someone on the outside to remove the nerve gear."

"That could be problematic for those that live alone," Reaper said.

"Yeah. Let's just hope that whatever is going on is fixed soon."

Before either of us could say anything more, a loud bell resonated throughout the fields, coming from the Town of Beginnings.

"What the hell is that?" Reaper asked, shock etched on his face.

"That's sounded like the bell tower from the Town of Beginnings," I said, equally shocked. "I wonder what it's abo-"

I was cut of by a bright light enveloped us both.

 **Town of Beginnings: Town Plaza**

"-ut." I blinked in confusion. I looked around and saw that there were thousands of other players here, all of them looking equally confused. Various flashed of light appeared all over the square, leaving more confused players in their wake. "The hell?"

"Why are we in the Town of Beginnings again?" Reaper asked from next to me. "Better question, _how_ did we get here?"

"Forced teleportation," I answered, looking around trying to figure out what was happening. I looked towards the sky and gasped.. "Look," I said, pointing towards the sky.

Everyone in hearing range looked at what I was pointing at and saw what I saw. A blinking red hexagon that was floating in the sky. The word 'warning' printed across it.

"What's that?" Reaper asked.

Before I could answer another hexagon appeared next to the original. Then another, then another. More appeared until the entire sky was covered with red error hexagons with one saying 'system error'.

"What the-?"

Then, from in between the hexagons, a thick red liquid seeped through the hexagons and fell towards the ground. Everyone gasped as the blood-like substance seemed to hit an invisible wall several yards above the bell tower. The substance pooled together and began to form a shape. We watched transfixed as the substance to the shape of a giant figure cloaked in a blood red cloak with gold trim and a hood that completely covered their face. His hands were covered in white gloves. Almost immediately the players began conversing amongst themselves.

"Who's that?

"Is this some kind of event?

"This is probably just some open ceremony."

"Attention players!" the cloaked figure said, gaining everyone's attention. "Welcome to my world."

"'My world'?" I asked. "But that means-!"

"I am Kane Harrison, the creator of the game that you all currently reside in," the figure spoke. "I designed this game for over twenty years, and I, as well as a specially designed AI, control this world. I'm sure by now you have noticed that the logout button is missing from your menu." As he said this, he held out his own pointer finger and opened a giant menu, demonstrating that the button was not there. "This is not a bug. It is a feature of the _true_ Sword Art Online."

 _What?!_ I thought as everyone around me gasped in shock and some in anger. _This is a feature of the game?!_

"You are all unable to logout from SAO and nobody from the real world can disconnect the nerve gear without consequences," Kane continued. "If the nerve gear is forcibly removed, then a powerful burst of microwave radiation will be emitted from a transmitter located in the nerve gear that will destroy your brain, ending your life."

"WHAT?!" several people shouted in shock and outrage.

"This has to be some kind of joke!" a player said. "Some kind of promotion to get us excited for the game!"

Some people tried to leave the square, but were stopped by an invisible wall.

"Hey, what the hell is this!" shouted one. "Let us out!"

What the hell is this guy talking about?" Reaper asked through gritted teeth. "This guy's crazy, right DJ?"

"The signals emitted from the transmitter of the nerve gear do use microwaves, so it is possible that he is telling the truth is the safety was disabled," I said slowly.

"But what if the power were cut?" he asked.

"That wouldn't work. The nerve gear has an internal battery."

"Dammit."

"However," Kane spoke up, gaining everyone's attention once again. "Some player's parents have ignored my warnings and tried to forcibly remove the nerve gear. This has cause a total of two hundred and thirteen people have left this world as well as the real world."

"Two hundred and thirteen people?!" I asked in surprise.

"No way," Reaper said.

Multiple screens appear around Kane, each depicting a news channel that was talking about the multiple deaths caused by the nerve gear, cementing Kane's words.

"As you can see, news of my warning has spread throughout the world, yet some did not heed my warning causing the deaths of their loved ones," Kane said. "With the evidence that the removal of the helmet will cause the death of the wearer, there will be less attempts to remove it. I hope this will ease your worries and allow you to focus on your objective."

"Our objective?" I asked aloud.

"Your objective to complete the game and reach the hundredth floor," Kane answered. "If you complete this task and beat the game, you will be released from the game."

"Going through a all of the floors?!" someone asked in shock.

"But the beta testers only made it to the tenth floor!" another shouted.

 _Beating a full MMORPG?!_ I thought. _That's almost impossible!_

"In order to progress to the next floor, you most find and defeat the floor boss," Kane said. "Also, I would like to add that all methods of revival in the game are no longer functioning, so if you die, then the transmitter will release the radiation. In other words, if you die in the game, you die in real life."

Everyone was silent at Kane's final statement. Not a sound was made as we all gazed at the giant cloaked form of Kane Harrison in shock and horror.

"And lastly," Kane continued seemingly unaware of everyone's shock. "I have distributed a gift to you all. If you would look in your inventory you will find it."

I reached out my hand and opened my menu, everyone else doing the same thing. Pulling up my inventory a saw the item in question. "A mirror?" I said, clicking on it, causing a small mirror to appear in my hand.

"GAH!" A shout of surprise grabbed my attention. I turned towards that direction and saw a player get enveloped in light. Before I could process what was happening more people became engulfed in the same light.

"What-?" I began, only to be cut off when the very same light enveloped my body. When the light finally died down, my head was spinning. I placed a hand on my head to help ease the dizziness. "What was that?"

"D-DJ?" Reaper's voice said. I turned to him and was shocked to see that his appearance had changed. While he was still Caucasian with black hair, it was no longer as long or as spiky. It was now cut fairly short around the sides and back, but the hair on the top of his head slightly stuck up, but was not spiky like his previous hair style. He was also now taller than me be at least an inch.

"Reaper?" I asked.

"What happened to you?!" we both asked at the same time.

We both looked at the mirrors in our hands and I was shocked to see that my face was exactly like it did in real life, dreadlocks and all. I could also see that my height was now what it was in real life as well.

"W-What's this?" I asked touching my face. "Why do I look like I do in real life?"

"What the hell is going on?" I heard a player ask.

I looked around and saw that everyone had changed, each of them looking like, to the best of my knowledge, their real selves. I also noticed that some people had apparently decided to play as the opposite gender for the game. There were girls dressed in male clothing and vice versa. While I had no problem with this, as it was not uncommon for people to play as the opposite gender, it was still unsettling to see a fairly... larger male dressed in a pink short skirt.

"What the hell?!" a player asked, pointing an accusing finger at a male player that was dressed a female. "You're a girl?!"

"You're not eighteen!" the male responded.

"What's going on here?" Reaper asked. "Why do we look like our real selves."

I thought for a moment before it hit me. "The nerve gear. The transmitter covers your whole head, meaning that it can calculate what we really look like."

"But how did it get our height?"

"Hmm... The pat down!" I exclaim. "When we first used the nerve gear it made us pat ourselves down in order to 'calibrate' the nerve gear. That must be how they got out measurements."

"But why?" Reaper asked. "Why is all this happening?!"

"I think we're about to find out," I said grimly, indicating to the colossal cloaked figure.

"Right now," Kane said. "you are probably wondering, 'why?' Why would I, Kane Harrison, the creator of Sword Art Online and the nerve gear do such a thing?' I have already achieved my goal. I created Sword Art Online for the sole purpose of my own entertainment. And now..." I could practically see the smirk on Kane's face from under his hood. I clenched my fists in anger. "the preparations are already complete. This concludes the tutorial of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

With that, purple smoke began to seep from Kane's hood and gloves. The cloak began to fall, as there was nothing holding it up. The cloak then reverted to the red substance and was sucked back through the hexagons. As soon as the last of the red substance was sucked up, the sky instantly reverted back to normal.

Everyone was silent. Not a sound was made as everyone processed the gravity of the situation. The silence was broken by a scream, followed by the majority of the players. Everyone began to scream , shouting as if Kane Harrison would hear them.

"LET US OUT!"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US! LET US GO!"

"I CAN'T STAY HERE! I HAVE MY OWN LIFE TO LIVE!"

"I WANT MY MOMMY!"

The last shout came from a little girl who was kneeling on the ground, tears flowing from her eyes. She looked way to young to be playing this game and my heart clenched seeing a child as young as her stuck in this world.

I noticed a slight discoloration appear around the plaza. I immediately realized that whatever was keeping us confined in the square was gone.

"Come on!" I said, grabbing Reaper's wrist and dragging him out of the square.

"Listen up," I said to Reaper. We were currently in one of the back alleys of the town. The majority of the players were still in the square. "I'm planning on heading to the next town as soon as possible. You should come too."

"Huh?" Reaper said.

"If everything he said was true, then we have to survive in this world," I said. "In order to do that, we have to become stronger. And to do that, we need better gear. In an MMORPG's, money, items, and exp are limited. It's only a matter of time before the mobs in the Starting Field are wiped out. The best course of action would be to head to the next town. I know the way and all of the dangers that we might run in to, so even if we are low level, we can get their safely."

"But, I can't," Reaper said. "My friends that waited in line to by the game with me are most likely here right now. I have to help them."

 _I can only manage with one other person,_ I thought. _but with others..._

"Sorry," Reaper said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I can't keep making you look out for me. So don't worry about me and head to the next town. I'll be fine with the trick that you've taught me."

"Okay," I said. "Then I guess this is where we head our separate ways. If anything happens, you can message me."

"Right!"

"Then... see you, Reaper."

"See ya' around, DJ," he said, giving me a thumbs up.

I smiled and ran off down the alley. I continued to run through the town until I exited the Town of Beginnings and through the Starting fields, heading in the direction of the next town. As I ran I thought of my family and friends from the real world. I imagined how they were feeling and it caused an ache in my heart.

 _I can't die here,_ I thought. _I have to survive and get back to them!_

Just then a large wolf with dark gray fur and a lighter shade of gray on its stomach. It's red eyes narrowed at me and it growled. Without any provocation, the wolf charged me.

 _I refuse to die. I'll keep moving forward until I beat this game!_ I growled as I unsheathed my sword, continuing to run towards the wolf. I pointed my sword diagonally towards the ground. Just as the wolf was about to bite me, my blade glowed blue and with a shout I slashed upward, cutting through the wolf's head. It gave a pained howl before bursting into pixels. _I WILL WIN!_


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Before this chapter begins I would like to start off by stating what I stated in the author's notes from last chapter. First off, as I said before, this story starts out the same as the original SAO, something that I DO NOT own, and follows a similar story line. HOWEVER, like I said the story does branch off and becomes its own story, much like my resistance fic. Those changes will become prominent in chapter three, though there are some changes in this chapter. That is all. Now, without further adieu, Chapter 2.**

 **Chapter 2**

First Floor Boss

 **June 27th, 2022**

 **Larkwyre Town. 1st Floor**

About two months have passed since the start of the death game as us players have begun to call it. Since then I had taken up the arduous task of level grinding until I was at a suitable level for fighting the first floor boss. I traded my leather armor for a iron chest plate and a slightly stronger sword. However, not everyone was as lucky as me. About two hundred people, not including the original two hundred and thirteen players that had died on the launch date, were killed thus ending their lives irl.

After the initial shock over the true objective of the game, as well as the consequences, had worn off, players began to spread out in search of the first floor boss. Despite the combined efforts of the remaining players, around nine thousand or so, no one has found the floor boss.

Until now...

I was currently in the top row of a amphitheater like area with about twenty other players. We were all sitting on step-like benches that led down to a stage with a stone hood, shielding the stage from the virtual sun. On that stage was a single player, who I assumed was a guardian given the amount of armor he was wearing. Unlike the other classes, guardians tended to wear heavier armor as they have slower movement speed than the other classes. The player was male, about five foot eight. He was lightly tanned with short blond hair that reached the bottom of his ears. His eyes were a steely gray color. He decked out in a heavy metal chest piece with chain mail covering his stomach. He had metal boots and leggings made of the same material as the chest plate. A rather large circular shield and a iron broad sword was strapped to his back.

His name was Jason and he had called for any available players in the town. He claimed that he had vital information regarding the first floor boss. Having nothing better to do until the boss was found, I went to see what this guy wanted; and I'm glad that I did.

"WHAT?!" a random player shouted. "WE FOUND THE FIRST FLOOR BOSS ROOM?!"

"That's right," Jason said. "The boss room was found in a cave just south as the Shrouded Forest."

Whispers broke out amongst those assembled. I crossed my arms and thought back to my time in the beta of SAO.

Jason then brought out a small brown book and showed it to all of us. "This here, is a players manual that was handed out at the Town of Beginnings to all players. It gives details about the first ten floors as well as their bosses." He opens the book and fingers through the pages before stopping. "It says here that the first boss is named Igrag."

 _Igrag,_ I thought.I place a hand on my chin in thought _From what I remember he's a giant bipedal boar. He wasn't particularly difficult to beat in the beta, but he spawned boar guards to defend himself._

"Igrag," Jason continued, flipping through the book. "uses a war hammer as his primary weapon of choice. He is also said to spawn boar guards to help him fight against players who seek to defeat him. It also says that when he gets to his last health bar, he will switch to a short sword."

"That's all well and good, but what does this have to do with us?" another random player asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Jason said with a smirk. "I have asked you all here in request that we form the first boss party of SAO."

"A boss party? What's that?"

"It's a party devised for the sole purpose of defeating the floor bosses," Jason answered.

 _A boss party, huh?_ I thought, resting my head upon the palm of my hand. _It's been awhile since I was apart of one of those. A lot of the beta testers were hesitant to join them as many fights broke out between the beta testers over the final hit bonus._

"With Igrag's ability to spawn guards, he is a fairly difficult boss to face," Jason says. "However, I believe that if we form a boss party some of us will stall his guards and allow the rest of us to attack the boss!"

The crowd broke out in whispers and murmurs as everyone let Jason's words sink in. What he said makes sense, they would have a better chance of defeating Igrag, without losing anyone in the battle.

"It's my belief that this party will not only be successful with this boss, but all of the other floor bosses without losing anyone!" Jason continued, his eagerness seeming to affect some of those gathered. Many of them were smiling and getting excited over the prospect of defeating the floor bosses without loss. "Together we can beat this game and show Kane Harrison who's boss!"

Many of those gathered broke out in applause and cheers, their confidence bolstered by Jason's encouragement.

 _Well he's got charisma, I'll give him that,_ I thought with a smirk. _I wonder if he's got some kind of item..._

"Hold on just a second!" a voice shouted.

I swiveled my head towards the sound of the voice and see someone standing. He was about five foot eight, like Jason, pale skin, and black close-cropped hair. He had dark gray eyes that were narrowed in annoyance and anger. He wore the standard leather armor, indicating that he was either a low level or did not have enough money for any better gear. His shirt was solid black and he wore cargo pants. A medium sized ax slung over his back.

"Do have a problem with my plan?" Jason asked, his eye narrowing at the ax wielding player.

"No, but there's something I want to say," the player said, walking down to the stairs and climbing up on the stage. Once he was on the stage he turned and glared at those assembled. "The name's Dagur and I think we all deserve an apology!"

"An apology?" Jason asked in confusion. "From who?"

"The beta testers!" Dagur growled venomously.

Everyone went silent, as all that could be heard was the fake wind blowing through the amphitheater.

"It's the beta tester's fault that we're stuck in this game!" Dagur shouted. "They were the one's that tried out the game, I bet they made some kind of deal with Kane to have us all get trapped in here!"

My eyes widened at Dagur's accusation. _Does this guy really think that the beta testers knew about this?_

"Over four hundred of us have died because of the beta testers!" Dagur continued. "They took all the best weapons and gear before the rest of us were able to get to the shops. They also took out all of the weaker mobs and gaining all of that XP, leaving the stronger mobs to kill the rest of us off!" As Dagur continued to speak, some of those gathered were nodding their heads in agreement. "I think it's only fair that they should hand over all of their items, money, and gear to us so we can distribute it amongst ourselves."

There were more nods of agreement. There were some shouts and demands for the beta testers to come forth and relinquish their items. I clench my fists in anger.

 _Don't tell me their buying this guys crap!_ I shout in my mind. My eyes narrow at Dagur's smug grin. _He's alienating the beta testers, making them the bad guys. No good can come from this. If they turn on the beta testers, there will be even more deaths!_

I was about to stand and speak up against Dagur, but I was beaten to the punch.

"If I may address the group," a deep voice from the front row said. A large, muscular Caucasian man stood and walked over to the stage. He towards over both Dagur and Jason at about six foot two. He was wearing what appeared to be an orange old fashion monk robe that did not cover his left arm and part of the left side of his chest. He has a sash wrapped around his waist that was a darker orange. His shoes were more like soft soled slippers that were partially open at the top revealing white socks. He did not appear to be holding any weapons. He was clearly of the monk class, one of the warrior classes that were able to the fisticuffs abilities; abilities that allowed a player to fight with their bare hands.

"And who are you?" Dagur asked rudely.

"My name is Aegis," the behemoth of a man said, his voice calm, but forceful. "and I have something I would like to say as well." He then pulled out a brown book, the same one that Jason pulled out earlier. "As Jason said, this book was handed out at the Town of Beginnings, but what you might not know is that all of the information in this book was gathered by the designated info broker. That information was given to them by the beta testers themselves."

Several people gasped and began to mutter amongst themselves. Dagur, however, became red-faced as he got in Aegis' face, or as close as he could.

"So what if the beta testers handed out the book?!" he shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. "That doesn't excuse them from trapping us in this game!"

Aegis lowered his head so he was an inch from Dagur's face. He stared down at Dagur with enough intensity to cause the ax wielder to begin to sweat and take a step back.

"If you really think that the beta testers are to blame then you're dumber than you look," Aegis sneered, he then looked up at the rest of the group. "For those who believe that the beta testers are the cause of this, I want you to think about one thing. From the group of four hundred players that have died, not only were normal players killed, but also beta testers." He turned back to Dagur and leveled a glare. "The beta testers are in just as much risk as the rest of us. Blaming them will only cause a rift to form between all of us."

"So what?" Dagur said stubbornly. "They still took all the best items."

"The items are free game to those who get to them first," Aegis countered. "Regular players have been able to get quality weapons, so you can't blame the beta testers for that. Instead of fighting amongst ourselves we should focus on our main enemy; Kane Harrison."

More nods of agreement could be seen throughout the crowd.

 _Wow,_ I thought. _These guys are really fickle._

"Aegis is right," Jason said, stepping up. "We should not be fighting amongst ourselves. We need to focus on defeating the bosses and get out of this game."

Shouts of agreement spread throughout the group as they began to rally behind Jason's words.

"Now, my plan is for my plan to work, we should form small groups, each group tasked with either dealing with Igrag's goons while the remaining groups deal with Igrag himself. Once we get him to his last health bar, we will all converge on him and destroy him together!"

"YEAH!" everyone sheered, throwing up their arms in their eagerness, all thoughts of Dagur's earlier comments forgotten.

"Now, all of you form small groups and I will assign you your roles," Jason said. Everyone began to gather around each other, forming groups. As all this happened, I was the only one that noticed Dagur stalking out of the amphitheater, grumbling under his breath. "Once you have your groups, meet here tomorrow at noon."

 _Glad he's gone,_ I thought as I watched Dagur stalk away, not processing what Jason had just said. I then noticed that everyone was forming groups. _Crap! I don't know anyone!_ I look around, but see no one without a group. I sigh depressedly. _Ah well. I'm not good with people anyway. I guess I'll just solo this..._ My train of thought was interrupted by a soft feminine voice coming from behind me.

"Excuse me," the voice said timidly. I jump a little in surprise and whirl around. Before me stands a girl, about my height, with long black hair, that looked almost purple in the light, tied in a ponytail that fell just past her shoulders. She had starling blue eyes and fair skin. She was dressed in a dark purple long sleeve shirt with white on the hem of the sleeves. She had a breast plate made from a material that I could not name off the top of my head strapped across the shirt. Her pants were a darker shade of purple that stopped just above her ankles. Her shoes were black in color and appeared to be soft soled like Aegis'. She had a rather small sword, which I recognized as a ninjato, strapped horizontally across the back of her waist. "Sorry," she says, seeing my reaction. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"N-No problem," I said, waving off her apology and trying to still my rapidly beating heart. "What can I help you with?"

"Well," she said, shifting nervously from foot to foot. "I don't have anyone to group up with and I notice that you didn't have a group, so I..."

I frowned for a second, before I realized what she was asking. "You want to partner up with me," I said, earning a nod. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Well I was planning to just go solo during the boss fight..."

"Oh," she said, the disappointment clear in her voice. "I see. That's okay then."

I could tell from her voice that she was nervous. She most likely was scared, something that everyone was feeling, and desperate. She turned to walk away and I mentally cursed myself for what I was about to do.

"Wait," I said, opening my menu and sending her a group request. "I'll partner with you."

"Really? Thank you!" she said gratefully. She accepts the group request and an icon appears on my screen telling me that we were now party members. In the left side of my vision, just under where my health bar were located, Raven's health bar appeared.

"So your name is Raven, huh?" I said, reading her name on the group member list.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry I forgot to introduce myself earlier." She then looked at her own group list. "You're name is DJ?"

"Yep," I said.

"Not a very creative name, is it?" she said nonchalantly.

"Hey!" I exclaim in indignation. "That's my actual name!"

She cocks her head with an incredulous on her face. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," I say, pouting slightly, not that I would ever admit to it.

"I didn't mean to offend!" She said quickly, raising her hands in a placating manner.

"It's fine, you didn't."

She shifted awkwardly. "Well thank you for partying with me."

"No problem."

"Well,I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Y-Yeah."

With that she turned and left the amphitheater. Once she was out of sight I sat back down and released a sigh.

"Why do I get the feeling that tomorrow's going to be a long day."

We all reconvened in the amphitheater the next day as per Jason's orders, even Dagur, though he looked irritable. I sat next to Raven, who was shifting nervously.

"Now that we're all here, I'll go over our plan of attack," Jason said. "When we enter the boss dungeon all of us are to stick together so that we can handle the mobs without loosing too much health. When we get to the boss room each group will be tasked with either attacking the boss's guards or attacking the boss." He pointed to several groups including my 'group'. "You all are in charge of occupying the guards while the rest of us deal with the boss. Healers and spell casters stay towards the back and assist those in need."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Looking around I saw that everyone was practically shaking in either fear or anticipation. Though despite whatever emotion they were feeling it was clear that they were all confident in Jason's plan.

"Make sure that all your weapons and armor is equipped before we leave and put all your healing potions and magic restorers in your hot bar." He then unsheathed he sword and shouted, "Now, let's go and show this boss who the real bosses are!"

"YEAH!" everyone shouted.

"That was so cheesy," I whispered to Raven, causing her to chuckle softly. _Despite that, he's a good motivational speaker._

 **Shrouded Forest**

Our group traversed the through the forest, everyone on guard in case a rogue mob decided to attack us. Though we really did not have to worry. Mobs generally did not attack overly large groups. The boss dungeon, however, is a different story. The mobs within a boss dungeon were a lot more vicious. A mob might leave you alone or even run away when its health gets too low when in a normal mob infested area, but the ones in a boss dungeon were relentless in their assault.

I looked around at everyone and saw the majority of them clutching their weapons tightly and looking around nervously. Others were walking around with an air of confidence. They held their weapons loosely and were chatting animatedly with those around them. They were clearing had rather high levels to be this confident with entering a boss dungeon.

Turning to my left I saw that Raven was walking almost robotically with her head down. She looked like someone walking to their death. She was not only nervous, but it was like she had accepted her fate. I inwardly sighed. Walking into a boss dungeon with that kind of mindset would be detrimental to not only her, but also the rest of the group.

Steeling my nerves, I nudged her causing her to look up at me. "What's wrong?"

"What? Oh, nothing," she said, looking back down. It was clearly a lie and part of me did not want to pressure her, but I knew I had to get her out of her funk.

"You shouldn't worry." Her head snapped up so fast that I thought that she would get whiplash.

"What?!"

"You're afraid," I stated bluntly. "That's understandable, but you can't let that affect your decisions. If you let your fear control you then you'll make mistakes."

"But, I can't just stop being afraid," she said. "This is my life we're talking about. I can't just stop being afraid!"

"Then don't."

"Huh?"

"Don't stop being afraid," I clarified. "Most view fear as something bad, it's truly not. When someone feels fear, their heart starts to beat rapidly, adrenaline pumps through their veins, and the mind works overtime. You are able run faster, jump higher, and fight harder because of fear." I look towards the virtual sky, a soft smile on my face as I become lost in my memories. "You have to channel that feeling, that feeling of fear, and use it to become stronger. Once you have that strength, use it to protect yourself and others."

I turn back to Raven and see her staring at me in rapt attention, wonder filling her eyes. "Wow," she said. "That was really deep."

"Did it help?"

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening her eyes. "Yeah, it did." She offers me a friendly smile. "Thank you, DJ"

"No prob," I said, giving her a smile of my own.

We continue to walk in silence for a few more minutes until she broke the silence. "Where did you hear something like that anyway? Not that I doubt that you're smart, but that sounds like something a philosopher would say."

My smile slowly fell from my face as my eyes became unfocused. "My dad told me that."

Sensing my unease over the topic, she dropped it. We continued our trek making small talk. I learned that she was a member of the assassin class and had a food fighter sub class. I was curious of why she chose this sub class. She told me that it was because she always had a thing for cooking, on top of that she wanted an immunity to poisons.

"That makes sense." I nod my head at her reasoning.

"So what are class are you?"

"I'm a swashbuckler with a tracker subclass."

"So you chose the weapon class too, huh?"

"Yeah, despite swashbucklers not doing much damage they have higher attack speed than the other classes."

"I chose assassin because that class does the most amount of damage per hit," she relented.

"I take it you're new to MMORPG's?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, blushing in embarrassment. Before she could say more, Jason's voice rang out.

"We're here!"

I turned and noticed that we had arrived at a cave. The mouth of the cave itself was slightly intimidating. The stone was jagged at the top and bottom, live a large mouth full of sharp teeth. Just the sight of the entrance caused several players to tense.

"Everybody stick together and we'll all be fine," Jason said reassuringly.

We all nodded our heads and we all entered the boss dungeon.

 **Ragged Cave**

The inside of the cave was lined with torches, casting a dim light across the span of the cave. The stone that made up a purple stone that glistened in the torch light. The ceiling was riddled with large stalactites. The ground was surprisingly smooth, almost as if it was paved rather then formed naturally. It would have been a beautiful had it not been for the mobs.

As soon as we entered the dungeon we were assaulted by mobs. A lot of them were two foot tall bats with dark blue skin, acid green eyes, fangs the size of daggers, and ears that were twice the size of their heads. They flew in packs and had a tendency to dive-bomb players, causing quite a few shrieks. There were so many that it reminded me of when you would walk in a cave in any Pokémon game and be assaulted by wave after wave of Zubat. The other creatures were bipedal mole-like creatures that burst from the ground and attacked. They had dark green fur and blood red eyes. Their claws were razor sharp and left nasty gashes when they hit. Though they did not do much damage.

Despite going through this dungeon during the beta, the amount of mobs that attacked us was ridiculous. Kane must have had an even sicker mind to have that many mobs spawn at once.

Traversing the dungeon took about two hours. Two hours of wading through waves of demonic bats from hell, as I began to call them after the first fifteen minutes, we finally made it to a giant set of doors. They were twelve feet tall an appeared to be made of some king of black metal. An intricate pattern was on the center of the two doors. It was a large circular shape with four similarly shaped rings inside it. Each circle held six wavy protrusions extending from the rings, attaching them to the outer ring. Every other ring staring with the outer one was light blue while the remaining two were a light purple.

"This is it everybody," Jason said. "Behind those doors lies the first floor boss."

Everybody tensed at this, even those that were acting confident earlier. I noticed that Raven was starting to shake beside me. I elbowed her and gave her a reassuring smile when she looked at me. She returned the smile and turned back to Jason.

"There is no need to worry, as long as you all follow my plan, you will be fine," Jason said.

 _'You'?_ I thought to myself. _The way he's talking makes it seem like he's making us do all the work while he..._

"NOW LET'S DO THIS!" Jason shouted., earning cheers from the group. He then turned and pushed open the doors. The doors slowly creaked open and the group entered.

The room was twenty meters by one hundred meters with the ceiling being five meters high. Two lines of one meter tall pillars that stood parallel from each other stretched the entire length of the room. There were no stalactites in this room unlike the rest of the cave. The walls and floor was made up of the same purple stone as the rest of the cave, though in the center of the room the same pattern that was on the door. At the end of the room a large staircase that led to a large set of doors, similar to the ones we just entered. Those doors lead to the next floor. They would open when Igrag was defeated.

We all entered the room cautiously looking around in case the boss was hiding. Almost as soon as the group entered the room, the doors slammed shut and the wall suddenly lit up, shifting from color to color, reminding me of a lava lamp. The colors on the pattern suddenly became more vibrant, adding to the light that emanated from the walls.

Everyone tensed and looked around frantically, trying to find the boss. A loud squeal echoed through the room, putting everyone on edge. A large light appeared in the center of the room, temporarily blinding the party. When the light died down a large bipedal boar stood before them.

The boar was two meters tall and had the same color fur as the boars at the forest near the Town of Beginnings. It was covered in silver armor complete with shoulder pads. On the left breast plate of its armor was the same pattern as the door and floor. While it had human hands, its feet were hooves and a dark blue kilt-like garment covering his lower section. It had large ivory tusks jutting from its snout and eyes that glowed red in anger as it glared at the group. It gave a loud bone chilling squeal and held out its right hand and a large war hammer appeared in its outstretched hand. With another squeal twelve smaller lights appeared around it. When those lights faded, twelve bipedal boars stood there. They were all wearing the same armor as the giant boar except they had helmets with grill face-masks and they were carrying morningstars.

The boss released a final squeal and a name tag reading 'Igrag' appeared over the giant boar along with a red diamond that hovered over its head. Four green health bars appeared on the left of Igrag. It hefted its war hammer and glared challengingly at us.

"This is it!" Jason shouted, unsheathing his sword and placing his shield on his arm. "CHARGE!"

"RAAH!" everyone shouted as we ran towards Igrag and his guards.

I soon lost track of time as I fought the guards off. I deflected a morningstar sent towards me. My blade glowed red as I made a three sixty degree spin and slashed the offending guard across the chest. The guard reeled back, but remained standing. It reared back its weapon, but before it could strike me it froze and released a pained squeal before bursting into shards of data. Where the guard once stood was Raven, her ninjato glowing a light purple.

"Thanks," I said, turning around and slashing at another guard that tried to get behind me.

"No problem," she said, rushing to my side and attacking the guard I was attacking with a straight thrust, her blade glowing midnight blue. The single strike caused a major amount of damage as the guard's health bar went into the yellow. "I love doing so much damage with one hit."

"You think that's cool, then watch this," I said with a smirk, my inner competitiveness surfacing. I charge forward, holding my sword horizontally parallel with the ground. My blade glowed a pale green and I slashed across the guard's chest. Before it could recover I delivered a diagonal slash across its chest. Finally, I swung my sword around my had and slashed it across its neck. With a final gurgled squeal the guard was destroyed. "How's that?"

"Impressive," she commented, her voice was partially sarcastic and partially impressed. She looked around the rest of the battlefield. "More guards keep spawning. At this rate, we'll be overwhelmed."

I looked around as well took note of the battles around us. Guards were falling left and right, but despite that more kept spawning in. I looked towards the back of the room and saw the spell casters shooting spells that ranged from fireballs to lightning strikes. The healers stood further back and were surveying the battle, occasionally casting healing spells on those in their group hen they noticed their health getting too low. I could also see several small wolves and other beasts running around and attacking the guards and Igrag. Summon beasts.

Summoners were one of the magic classes. Unlike the other magic classes, they could not heal or use spells. Instead they had the ability to summon certain types of monsters depending on their level. Hence the name summoners.

I continued to look around, still being cautious so I was not blind sighted by one of the guards. I took notice that Igrag was almost on its last bar of health. _Well how about that,_ I thought. _Jason's plan is working._

I looked for Jason and I was slightly angered to see that he was just standing there idly, occasionally defending against guards if they got too close.

 _What the hell is he doing?!_ I thought, slashing at a guard that got too close. _He's just standing there not doing anything! Even Dagur's fighting!_ I narrow my eyes at him and see that he smirking almost evilly. _What are you playing at?_

I was broken out of my musings when Igrag gave an enraged squeal. Its second to last health bar disappeared and it slumped down, looking defeated. The remaining guards went rigid and burst into pixels.

"This is it!" Jason shouted. "He's about to switch weapons!"

Igrag suddenly straightened and fixed us all with a look of pure hatred. He then tossed his hammer behind him. The hammer burst into pixels as soon as it hit the ground.

"Everyone stay back!" Jason shouted, dashing forward. "I've got this!"

This immediately set off warning bells in my head. _The plan was for us all to converge on it and take it down together. Why is Jason...- The last hit bonus!_ I realized. The last hit bonus was a rare item that was given to the player that delivers the final blow against the floor boss. This was the reason that, during the beta, there were conflicts between players during boss battles. Many players attacked each other in order to get the last hit bonus. _That must be what Jason wants._

As Jason ran forward, Igrag zeroed in on him. It released a low growl and stretched out its hand. A burst of light appeared in its hand and a sword appeared.

 _That sword!_ I noticed. During the beta, Igrag switched to a short sword, but this sword... it was not a long sword. This sword was much larger, almost as big a Igrag itself. The blade was a steely gray and the guard was shaped like a cross and colored gold. Four blue gems embedded in the four points of the cross. The hilt appeared to be wrapped in leather with a skull at the end of the hilt. That sword was no short sword. Unlike a short sword, while being a similar length, this sword only had one bladed edge and a slight curve on the flat sword. This sword was used similar to a knife, fast and precise movements aimed at weak points in an opponents armor.

"JASON!" I shouted. "THAT'S NOT A SHORT SWORD, IT'S A NINJATO!"

"What?" he asked, momentarily distracted.That moment was all Igrag needed.

Igrag leapt into the air, causing Jason to stumbled forward. Igrag kicked off of one of the pillars and jumped towards the next and repeating the action, slowly gaining speed. Jason tried to follow Igrag's movement, but was unprepared for Igrag suddenly changing direction and shooting towards Jason. His sword glowed blood red color and Igrag's form stiffened, the muscles in his legs and arms tensing. Jason brought up his shield in preparation for Igrag's attack, but was unprepared for Igrag's initial underhand swing which knocked Jason's shield from his hands. Igrag the brought his arm across his gut, the blade of his sword pointing behind him. Igrag's eyes narrowed as his gaze seemed to lock onto a single point of Jason's form and it lashed out with its sword.

Jason, now shield-less, was unprepared for wide slash that nearly bisected him. He cried out in pain and tried to move back, but Igrag moved forward, thrusting its blade forward as it moved, spearing Jason through the heart. With a flick of its wrist, Igrag sent Jason flying off his sword and into one of the pillars, a look of satisfaction on the large boar man's face.

"JASON!" I shouted. It turn to those around me. "All of you, distract Igrag!"

They nodded and charged Igrag. While they did this I ran over to Jason, a health potion I hand. When I got there I saw that his health was dropping fast.

"Dammit," Jason groaned holding his side. "I was so close." he then noticed me approach. "Well what are you waiting for? Heal me!"

This was a different Jason then before. His entire personality seemed to change. He was no longer the charismatic leader that led the first boss party. The look in his eyes held greed and anger, not the same kindness and confidence that they used to hold. I paused in my advancement and eyed him suspiciously.

"What's the hold up, give me the potion already!"

"You never had everyone's best interest in mind when you organized this party," I said, my eyes narrowed. "You just wanted us to do damage to the boss so you could get the last hit bonus, something that only the beta testers know about."

"What are you talking about? Heal me!" he demanded. When he saw my cold look, he sighed. His face contorted into a sneer as he said, "Damn, I guess I'm caught."

"So I'm right," I said.

"Yeah, I did it for the last hit bonus," he drawled. "I organized this group so that it would be easier for me to get the last hit on the boss so that I could get the rare drop." He fixed a sly stare on me. "Seeing as you know about the last hit bonus, you're a beta tester too."

"Then you know why I did it," he said, a crazed smile marring his face. "Who cares if those _sheep_ die. All that matters is getting the best weapons and becoming stronger." His smile became even more deranged. "With those items I would become the strongest in this world, a literal god. I would rule this world."

"But what about escaping?"

"Why would I want to leave this place?" he asked. "Here, I can be whatever I want to be. Here, I'm strong!" His expression diminished and became somber. "But it's too late now."

I was confused before I noticed that his health bar was still steadily decreasing. I cursed under my breath and tried to give him the potion only for him to push the bottle away. "No, it would just be a waste," he said. "Should I live, you'll just tell everyone what my plan was and what I am. If they knew that I was a beta tester and if they knew my plan they would all but lynch me. You saw their reactions to Dagur's accusations, they would tear each other apart if trying to find the beta testers. I wouldn't be able to achieve the power I crave. I refuse to live like a weakling like in the real world."

His face stretched into a demented smile. "As soon as you tell them the truth, it will be chaos. Once thy realize that they were duped by a beta tester it will be open season on all beta testers." He gave a bitter laugh as his health bar hit zero. His body gaining a light blue sheen. "I wish...that I could see it."

His body glowed blue as he burst into thousands of pixels. Jason was dead.

I stared at the fading pixels in shock. Jason was dead. Right in front of me and I did nothing to stop it. I could have saved him, but I let him die. I clenched my fist around the vial of healing potion before placing it back into my inventory. I turned towards the boss and saw that it was now in the yellow, but things were not going good for the rest of the group. The spell casters were out of mana and everyone was in the yellow. It appeared that Igrag gained a huge speed boost when he switched weapons.

If things kept up like this, they would start to lose players. Well, more players. I felt someone step next to me. I turned and saw that it was Raven. She gave me a look that silently asked what we should do. I looked over at Igrag and steeled my nerves.

"Let's do this," I said. With that, we charged.

We wove through the players until we were in front of Igrag. I leapt at Igrag and delivered three quick strikes to his back. Igrag squealed in pain before turning around. It raised its ninjato and delivered a powerful downward strike, attempting to cleave me in two. I quickly raised my sword and blocked the powerful swing. I fell to one knee under the sheer strength of the attack. As I struggled with the sword, Raven jumped on Igrag's arm and ran up it. Igrag attempted to bat her away, but before he could she delivered a slash across Igrag's face.

Igrag reeled back, causing Raven to fall towards the ground. She quickly tucked into herself and landed with a roll, ending up on he feet. She immediately jumped to the side when Igrag slammed its sword where she once stood.

As Igrag was momentarily distracted with Raven, I dashed forward and slashed him across his heals. I was then forced roll to the side to avoid getting stomped on. I slashed in a wide arc hitting Igrag in the knee. Igrag then attempted to leapt towards one of the pillars, but I jumped after him, matching his speed, and slashing him across the side hard enough to send him back towards the ground. As I landed I activated another ability. My blade glowed orange and I sprang forward in a thrusting motion. Before I could land the hit, Igrag sidestepped. Because I was still in the middle of the ability I could not stop and I kept moving forward.

My eyes widened as Igrag made to bisect me. The blade hit me across the side and I was sent flying, my health taking a serious hit. I hit the ground and skidded until I slammed into one of the pillars. Igrag leapt at me, ready to finish me off. Just as the blade was about to hit me, an orange blur shot past me and slammed into Igrag, sending him flying.

"Aegis," I said, taking note of my savior.

"You okay, kid?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said, pushing to my feet. "We can't stop, we need to take him out before we lose anyone else."

"Anyone else," he repeats. "So Jason..."

I turned away. "He didn't make it."

Aegis was silent for a moment. "Well we can't worry about that now. We have to finish this guy now."

"Right," I said.

"You take a moment to heal, you took a lot of damage." I nod and he runs towards Igrag, his fist glowing blue.

I quickly pull out the healing potion I was going to give Jason and downed it, my health returning to the green. I took a deep breath and leapt back into the fray. Igrag proved to be slipperier than in the beta. He was a lot faster and it was hard to keep up with him. We finally got him into the red, but he just became harder to hit.

Igrag gave a loud squeal as it delivered a wide slash, sending several players into the red. The healers were unable to do anything as they were all out of mana.

 _We were unprepared for this boss fight,_ I thought. _People should have brought mana potions. If this keeps up... Damn, I have no other choice. I have to use my original sword skill._

I was reluctant to use my original sword skill as it would expose me as a beta tester, but if I did not, more people would die. I only had one shot at this so I needed to make sure that he did not dodge.

"Raven!" I shout to my sole party member. "I need you to distract Igrag for a second!"

"Got it!" she shouted. She leapt forward and stabbed Igrag in the stomach. Igrag squealed in pain and turned to attack Raven.

 _Now!_ I thought as I leapt high into the air, my sword glowing silver, the tell tale color of an original skill.

My body rotated on its own so I was horizontal in the air, my sword arm across my body. I glared at the boss, who just noticed me in the air.

"It's over!" I shout as I descended through the air, spinning as I fell.

Before Igrag could react, I was upon him. I spun faster until my blade slashed him across the face. I continued to spin as I delivered another slash across his face, creating and x on him. I continued to spin and slash until there were three x's leading straight down his body.*

My original technique, heaven's descent as I called it. A six slash attack.

Igrag squealed as his health reached zero. Its body seemed to inflate before bursting into thousands of pixels. As soon as this happened the lights coming from the walls and center pattern faded and the word 'congratulations' appeared in the air above the pattern. White screens appeared in front of all of us, giving us exp and col for defeating the boss. I vaguely noticed that my screen said that I got the last attack bonus.

"..."

"..."

"WE DID IT!" everyone shouted at once, breaking into cheers and shouts of relief. Many players embraced each other in celebration, jumping for joy over defeating the boss without any casualty.

I fell to my knees in exhaustion, grateful that the fight was over. We _did it without losing anyone._ I look over to where Jason died. _Well, almost anyone._

I felt hand clamp on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Aegis and Raven standing over me, smiling kindly. "Good job, kid," he said. "You really showed your metal."

"Thanks," I said. "and my name's DJ."

"Seriously?"

"Why does everyone I tell my name ask that?" I moaned in mock depression.

"Drama queen," Raven teased good naturedly. I merely looked at her with a cheeky smile.

"Why are you all celebrating!" Dagur's voice rang out through the room. We all turned to him and saw him pointing angrily at me. "Why are you celebrating when _he_ killed our leader!"

Everyone went silent at this accusation. Everyone looked at me with a mix a unease and fear.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, angered from Dagur's false accusation. "I didn't kill him!"

"You might as well had!" he shouted. "I saw you run over to him and watch him as he died instead of healing him! I bet you wanted him out of the way so you could take all the glory for killing the boss!"

"Why would he do that?" Raven interjected. "What reason would he have for doing that."

"Because he's a beta tester!" That single statement caused the entire room to burst into whispers, all euphoria over defeating Igrag gone and replaced by thoughts of deceit and mistrust. "That's right, I know what you are. You gave yourself away with your fancy sword skill you used."

"So what if he's a beta tester?" Aegis argued. "He used that ability to beat the boss before it could kill anyone else!"

"He didn't do it for us! He did it for the last hit bonus!" Dagur shouted. "He had us bring the boss into the red and then swooped in to finish it off for the rare drop!" He then turned and addressed the rest of the group. "This is why we can't trust beta testers! They only care about themselves. They would gladly sacrifice all of you just for their own selfish motives. We have to protect ourselves and from them!"

At this point everyone except for me, Aegis, and Raven were psyching themselves up. They nodded in agreement at Dagur's falsities.

"Yeah, we have to get the beta testers before they get us!" one player shouted.

"I bet the beta testers filled those guide books with false information. I bet they wanted us all to die off so they could have less competition for the best items!"

"You're right!" a player gasped. "That must be why!"

"We should round them all up, take their items, and lock them up before they can kill us like they did Jason!" another shouted.

"This is bad," Aegis murmured to me and Raven. "If this keeps up, all of the beta testers will be hunted down and imprisoned or worse."

"What should we do?" Raven asked.

 _There's nothing we can do,_ I thought to myself. _Even if I told them Jason's true motives they will most likely not believe me and even if they did, they would still hunt down beta testers. They would fall into chaos. How did Dagur know about the last hit bonus anyway? Only the beta testers should know about that. But that means that-!_ My eyes widened in shock. _He's a beta tester! He trying to get everyone on his side by alienating the other beta testers, leaving him the sole beta tester in the game. He's just like Jason, manipulating others for his own gain._

I slam a fist on the ground in frustration. _Even if I do tell everyone, Dagur would just say that it was a ploy to get out my 'well deserved' retribution. I have to do something, but what. Wait..._ An idea began to formulate in my head. I knew what had to be done. I began to laugh.

Everyone stopped with their conversation when they heard my laugh. My laugh slowly grew more and more hysterical. Many players began to give me uneasy looks. To be honest, I scared myself a little with my laugh. I finally ended my slightly deranged laughing. "Beta tester? Don't lump me with those weaklings." I got to my feet and walked to the middle of the crowd. Those in front of me moved to the side to allow me passage. "Beta testers are nothing compared to me. Honestly I could have beaten Igrag myself, but I suppose you saved my a few hit points."

"You...monster!" a player shouted, fingering their weapon as if to attack me. "Dagur's right, you and your beta tester friends are menaces."

"Didn't I just say not to put me in a group with those weakling?" I asked rhetorically, fixing the speaker with a bored stare. I hated acting like this, but they needed a different enemy to focus on instead of the beta testers. "Those fools were merely stepping stones for me during the beta. I reached levels and claimed items that the beta testers could only dream of. To me, you and beta testers are in your rightful place. Under me.

"What's more is, you're right. That information in the guide book about Igrag _was_ fake. I gave the info broker false information so the lot of you would die, allowing me to get the last hit bonus." I forced a sadistic smirk onto my face. "Shame more of you didn't die, but ah well."

I opened my menu and went to the rare drop that I got for landing the final hit. _The Cloak of Moonlight,_ I read. I pressed it and it appeared on me. The cloak reached the bottom of my thighs mainly silver with black on shoulders, cuffs of the sleeves, and the bottom of the cloak. On the shoulders there was a golden crescent moon on each shoulder. The top part of the jacket was fastened, leaving the bottom open. There was also a hood, which I flipped over my head, shielding my face from the crowd.

"What you do doesn't concern me. So go ahead and continue with your little boss party and continue to fight the floor bosses. I will be there if only to swoop in and take the last hit bonus," I said, beginning to walk to the staircase.

"You're worse than any beta tester! You're a murder," a player shouted, attempting cut me with a sword. I easily dodged and stuck my foot out, causing him to fall on his face.

"Pathetic," I said in a condescending tone, continuing towards the stairs. "If you want to beat me, get stronger. If not you'll just end up dying to a mob."

I hoped against hope that their anger for me would not only redirect their hatred for beta testers to me, but also to get them to get stronger before they face another boss. I looked over my shoulder and eyed Dagur, who was silently fuming, with calculating eyes. I also needed to keep an eye on Dagur. He was a manipulator and if he is not exposed, he could kill us all.

"Wait, DJ." I turn around and saw Raven standing behind me. "What are you doing."

I turned so that she couldn't see me. "What do you mean? I'm just showing my true colors."

"I don't believe that," she said, grabbing, my arm so that I could not leave. "I saw the expression on you face when Jason died. You felt guilty. Someone who only saw us as stepping stones to their goal wouldn't have that look. I don't know what reason you had for not healing Jason when you had the chance, but I know that you regret not helping him."

I remained silent for a few seconds, debating whether or not I should tell her the truth. Reaching a decision, I gently removed her hand and pushed open the door. The doors creaked as they opened and a rush of air blew through the cave. Looking through the door I could see a long staircase leading to a rectangle of light.

I walked passed the door and stopped at the stairs, my right foot on the first step. "Believe what you want," I said softly, not turning to meet her gaze. "I recommend you join a guild. You won't get far without allies and by joining a guild you'll make friends and become stronger." I open my menu and when to the part section. I hit dissolve party and like that I was alone.

"What about you?" she asked, her voice full of concern. "You just contradicted yourself by going off alone."

"I'm not most people," I said, still not meeting her gaze. I began my ascent towards the next floor, an outcast and a murderer in the eyes of the world.

 **Author's Notes**

* This technique was shown by Tatsumi in Akame Ga Kill, I recommend watching it


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

New Years

 **December 31st, 2022**

 **Dusk Forest, Floor 9**

I cursed as I deflected another stinger from one of Dusk Forest's Giant Bees. The Giant Bees were about six feet tall with a twelve foot wingspan. They were primarily yellow with black stripes running up and down their bodies, like normal bees. Their six legs were long and spindly with small, but sharp, barbs on them. The most terrifying part of these creatures were their stingers, which were four feet long and incredibly sharp. The bees were also able to fire these stingers and regrow them almost instantly. While the Giant Bees were not much of a challenge by themselves, when they swarmed, they could be troublesome. It did not help that they were also insanely fast.

As I rolled out of the way of another stinger, I began to question if this quest was truly worth the trouble. The quest was given to me by a little NPC girl. She needed the honey from a queen Giant Bee to make medicine for her sick mother. The reward for completing this quest was a mystery item, but from doing the same quest during the beta, I knew that the item was a flash charm, Unless Kane decided to change the reward.

I gritted my teeth as a slashed through another Giant Bee, turning it into red pixels and leaving only three drones left. I looked past the bees and glared at my target, the Giant Queen Bee. She looked like the other Giant Bees, except that it was almost twice their size and had two sets of wings. It hovered in front of a large evergreen, larger than the other trees in the forest and regarded me with pulsing red eyes. Behind it was an insanely large beehive, about twenty feet tall, was suspended on the tree. The queen then gave a loud buzz that seemed to shake the very ground of the forest. As soon as the buzzing stopped, two more Giant Bees flew from the hive and moved in front of the queen.

I gritted my teeth at this action. The queen had been doing this for the past fifteen minutes and it was getting old real quick. When I had first encountered the queen, she had attacked by herself. She had had two health bars and while this would be threatening to most players, it was only a slight annoyance to me. I had knocked out one of its health bars with little issue, but as soon as its final health bar got in the red, she began to summon Giant Bees to defend it. Something that it did not do in the beta. So far I had destroyed twenty Giant Bees, but they the queen kept summoning them.

"Screw this," I growled. I held my sword horizontal to the ground, my right arm reared back and slightly bent at the elbow. My sword then took on a yellow shine as the sword skill activated. Just as the Giant Bees shot towards me, their stinger aimed directly at my heart, I shot forward at speeds that dwarfed that of the Giant Bees. In a second I was past the Giant Bees and right in front of their queen.

The queen reared back in surprise and tried to move away, but it was already too late. My sword, still glowing yellow, lashed out and made a long gash across the queen's thorax. The Giant Queen Bee screeched in agony as its health bar was depleted to zero. As it burst into thousands of pixels, the other Giant Bees followed suit and exploded into pixels.

I remained where I was, with my sword still at the ready, in case more bees appeared after I defeated their queen. When nothing happened I sighed in relief and sheathed my sword. I looked at the reward menu that appeared when I defeated the Giant Queen Bee and saw that I had received the quest item I required.

"That was annoying," I sighed, glancing at my health bar, which was in the yellow. I opened my item list to get a health potion and saw that I had only one. I sighed as I brought it out and downed it. "I'll have to buy some more when I get back to town. Good thing all of those Giant Bees dropped stuff as well. At least they were good for something."

 **Gyris Town, Floor 9**

Like I thought, the reward for completing the quest was a flash charm. This charm, when equipped, added and additional two points towards my speed. While this did not seem like much of an increase, two points could be the difference between life and death in this game. Plus I had plans for this particular charm.

As I walked through the gray streets of Gyris Town, I was greeted by the usual fearful and hateful glares of the other players. Ever since the first floor boss, the majority of the players have been giving me looks of hatred and fear. I was seen as a pariah of the game and as such, everyone hated me. I honestly did not care as it shifted their blame of the other beta testers towards me. It did get annoying when various players would come up to me threaten me, demand all my equipment, challenged me to a duel, or flat out told me to die. I hated being seen as the bad guy, but it was necessary so that the beta testers were safe from persecution.

Dagur certainly was not helping the matter either. Ever since the first boss, he had been practically preaching to anyone who would listen about how the beta testers were all in league with Kane Harrison and how they would kill them all if they were not stopped. It still angered me that Dagur himself was a beta tester and was throwing the rest of us under the bus with his claims. To make matters worse he formed a guild, Soldiers of the People, to spread Dagur's 'preachings'. Many saw Dagur as some kind of profit and as such, he was virtually untouchable. I was still trying to come up with a way to expose him, but I had not come up with anything.

Speaking of guilds, many had formed after the first floor boss when players realized how difficult the game was. There were still many solo players around as they received more rewards after defeating mobs and bosses, but that number was steadily declining as the difficulty of of the mobs went up. I, being the pariah of the game, was one of those few solo players as the majority of the guilds refused to have someone they saw as evil incarnate as part of the guild. I did receive one offer, but I declined as they were a smaller guild and I did not want them to risk scaring away potential members by having me in their guild.

I shook my head to free of these thoughts an focused on finding a potion vendor. I pulled my silver cloak closer to my face to block some of the chilled air from hitting my face. Like the outside world, Kane had programmed the game to mirror the changing seasons in the towns. As it was January, it was cold and snowed every so often. It had snowed about a foot on Christmas and large Christmas trees spawned in the center of each town. On top of that, Kane decided to be generous and gave everyone a present. Three thousand col and a mystery item. My item was the clock that I was currently wearing. It was known as the Cloak of Silver Snow and it had the same stats as my Cloak of Moonlight with an additional ice resistance. The cloak was silver like my previous cloak and had black fur lining the inside and a large light blue snowflake on the back.

A forlorn sigh escaped my lips as I thought about how it had been my first Christmas away from my family and my first in this game. I thought back to the Christmases that I spent with my family and how I used to find them annoying at times. Now I wish I could have been with them instead of being alone on Christmas. Now New Year's was approaching and I knew that I would be spending this holiday alone as well.

I jumped slightly when I felt something cold touch the tip of my nose. Looking up saw that snow had begun to fall. I flipped my hood up over my head and continued along my way, ignoring the glares that followed me.

I sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time today. All of the potion stores that I have tried only had low level potions or none at all. Apparently a bunch of players had cleaned out the majority of the stores stock. I expected Soldiers of the People as they had a tendency to clear out stores claiming that they were keeping beta testers from obtaining those items. The only problem with this response was that they were also keeping normal players from getting these items as well. I debated trying one of the stores on the lower floors. The only problem with this was that items tended to gain strength as you went up in floors, meaning that the potions on the previous floors would be a lot weaker. I was about to give in when I noticed a store on the left side of the street.

"Potions O' Plenty," I read aloud. This was clearly a player owned store as NPC owned stores typically did not have names. I normally stayed away from these kind of stores as most players would refuse to sell me anything. Despite this, I decided that it was worth taking a look.

Once inside, I lowered my hood and looked around the store. To my amazement, the store were rows and rows of shelves filled with all kinds of potions. I was shocked to see that many potions in a player owned as they had to make all of their potions. This player clearly spent a lot of time brewing potions. Several players were pursuing the isles, looking at all of the potions available.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU! I ONLY GIVE OUT ONE FREE SAMPLE PER PERSON!" a voice shouted, causing me to jump violently. Looking towards the sound of the voice I saw who I assumed to be the store owner glaring at two players. I recognized the two players as members of Soldiers of the People by the emblems on their clothes. The emblems were of a blood red hand with two, black, crossed swords on the palm of the hand.

The two guild members, both male, were decked out in the same dark gray cloaks and pants with their guild symbol on their left shoulders. One was about five foot three, scrawny, pasty white, and had blond hair styled in a spiked out mohawk design. The other was drastically bigger than his compatriot in both height and width. He looked to be six foot three with close-cropped brown hair. Unlike the other guy he was a lot more bulky and had dark skin.

The store owner was about my height with light skin, not as white as the shorter guild member, but not tan either. He had short brown hair and kind face, though it was currently contorted in rage. He wore a black long sleeve shirt with a metal chest piece covering his torso. He wore dark brown cargo pants and leather boots. A crossbow was slung across his back.

"Oh, come on! It's for a good cause!" one of the members said.

"I DON'T CARE!" the store owner shouted. "IT'S ONE FREE SAMPLE PER PERSON! NOW GET OUT BEFORE I BAN YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR GUILD FROM MY STORE!"

The bulky member stepped up and towered over the store owner who, to his credit, stared down the much larger player. "Our guild aims to protect the players of this game and to do that we need items. By denying our guild service, you are saying that you do not care for the people, and as such, aligning yourself with the beta testers."

"Don't give me that bull shit," the store owner growled. "I'm not aligning myself with anyone. I'm just a store owner trying to sell my wares."

"But the people-"

"Don't talk about the people!" the store owner interrupted. "If you lot truly cared for the people, you wouldn't be buying up all of the items in the town, leaving none for the rest of us!"

"It's to keep the beta testers from getting their hands on them," the other member tried to argue.

"Then what about the players that aren't beta testers who are unable to get items because your guild is buying them all?!" the store owner countered. "They're left to fend for themselves with weak equipment while you all have the best equipment!"

"They can easily get better equipment by joining our cause," the bulky guild member said.

 _So that's their game,_ I thought, clenching my fists and grinding my teeth. _They're taking all of the best equipment to_ encourage _others to join their guild!_

The store owner appeared to have this same thought as his rage seemed to double. "So that's it?! Join your guild or die?! You make me sick!"

"Careful of what you say about our guild," the bulky member said threateningly. "We might get the wrong idea and something might just happen to you."

I bristled at the underlined threat. These guys were trying to intimidate this store owner into giving into their demands. They claimed to be a guild for the people, but they were just a bunch of tyrants.

I was about to step in and confront the two guild members, but the store owner beat me to the punch. "Are you threatening me?" he asked dangerously.

"And if I am?" the member asked cockily, clearly thinking that he was intimidating the shorter player. This proved not to be the case as he suddenly had a loaded crossbow an inch from his face.

"Then you can take your threat, shove up your ass, and GET THE HELL OUT OF MY STORE!" the store said, his voice steadily getting louder.

While it was impossible to use items against another player in towns, as they were considered safe zones, having a crossbow an inch from your face was still terrifying. The bulky guild member stumbled backwards and fell unceremoniously on his rear, causing a few to chuckle. He quickly got to his feet and glared at the store owner in contempt.

"We'll remember this!" he shouted threateningly, trying to save face. He then turned and ran out of the store, his guild mate hot on his heels.

"And tell the rest of your guild, they are forbidden from shopping here! Have a nice day mother truckers!" the store owner shouted after the duo. He gave a huff and slung his crossbow back over his back. He then took notice to me and his scowl instantly vanished and was replaced with a warm smile. "Hey there traveler! Uno Bolt's the name and alchemy's my game! Sorry for that, but some people don't understand my policy."

"Policy?" I asked.

As a response he pointed to a plaque hanging above the counter. "Customers only get one free sample. Free loaders will become Swiss cheese."

I sweat-dropped at the threat. "You know you can't harm players in towns, right?"

"I know," he said, moving behind the counter. "But the threat still makes people less likely to demand free potions. Unlike certain guilds," he added as an after thought.

"Why do you hand out free potions?" I asked.

"Because, once they sample my potions and see how well they work, they'll come rushing back for more," he said proudly. "Especially since I offer potions that aren't currently available in shops."

"You have potions that aren't available in NPC shops?!" I demanded in surprise. "How high is your alchemy skill?!"

"Almost completely maxed out," he said, puffing out his chest in pride. "I spend the majority of my time creating potions instead of going out and level grinding like the majority of players."

I whistled appreciatively. Most players never focused on training their sub-class and focused on gaining levels. For his alchemy skill to already be so high, he would have had to spent literally days to reach. That takes commitment.

"Anyway," Uno continued, pulling me out of my thoughts. "would you like a free sample?"

Don't tell me you're selling to him!" Both Uno and I turned and saw a snobbish looking female player, garbed in magenta mage robes, walking towards them. She was slightly smaller than me and Uno and had fair skin, dirty blonde hair that was styled in a high ponytail, and sharp blue eyes.

"Why wouldn't I sell to him?" Uno asked confusedly.

"Because he's that beta tester!" she exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at me. By now, the remaining players in the shop stopped what they were doing and turned to watch our conversation.

"What beta tester?" Uno asked.

"A silver cloak, dreadlocks, greenish-gray eyes," she listed, glaring hatefully at me. "He's the one who killed Jason!"

At this, many of the bystanders looked at me with expressions of hate and fear. I sighed silently. Another shop that I would most likely be banned from. I was about to move towards the exit when Uno spoke.

"And your point is..?"

"My point?!" the mage screeched. "He's a killer! How can you let someone like him shop here?!"

"Tell me something," Uno said, his face becoming blank. "What color is the icon above his head."

"Green, so wha-"

"Then he did not kill Jason," Jackson said before the mage could finish her sentence. "As you know, the green icon that everybody has above their heads changes colors under two conditions. It turns yellow when a player harms another player outside a duel and then red when a player kills another player. Since his icon his green, he has not harmed or killed anybody."

"He might as well have," she said stubbornly.

"Were you there?" Uno asked.

"Well, no-"

"Then how do you know what happened?"

"Everyone says that he let him die!"

"Yet your weren't their, so you have to rely on the word of others," Uno said, his face showing no emotion. "You listen to what others say they saw, but you have not heard his side of the story."

"It doesn't matter what he says," she growled. "He's a beta tester, and the worst one at that! If you let him buy items then he'll kill us all when he gets the chance!"

Murmurs of agreement began to fill the store. Gradually those murmurs turned to shouts and jeers. They demanded that Uno kick me out and refuse me service. Several of the braver ones stepped towards me menacingly, most likely hoping to throw me out of the store by force. Before they got close a crossbow bolt cut through the air and embedded itself in the wooden floor.

"Who the hell do you think you people are?" Uno asked fingering his crossbow, his whole body practically shaking in rage. He rounded on the female mage, who withered under the shop owner's glare. "Who's store is this?"

"Y-yours."

"And who decides what is sold here?"

"You."

"And who decides who's allowed to shop here and who isn't?"

"You."

"That's right, and it is my decision that he is allowed to shop here." Uno then addressed the rest of the assembled crowd. "If any of you has a problem with this then you can leave this store now!"

For a few tense seconds everything was still. No one dared move or speak. Eventually, the small crowed dispersed and went back to their original locations in the store except for the female mage and two other players.

"Y-You'll regret this," she stuttered angrily. "When he ends up killing you, you'll only have yourself to blame."

"You worry about yourself and let me worry about me," Uno said tersely. "Now get out of my store."

With one final glare directed towards Uno and me, she and the other two players left the store, slamming the doors behind them.

"You didn't have to do that," I told him when the three had left. "You'll lose business if you allow me to shop here."

"Like I said before, you worry about yourself and let me worry about me," Uno responded. He then smiled as if the whole event never occurred. "You could be Cthulhu in power armor for all I care. As long as you pay, you are welcomed in my shop. Now, do you want a free sample or not?"

"Uh, sure." He smiles and opens his menu. He presses a few buttons and a small 'ping' went off. A second later my menu opened telling me that I had received and item. I opened my inventory and clicked on the new healing potion to check out its stats. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the healing potion was slightly stronger than the ones offered at NPC shops. "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said your potions were good."

"But of course," Uno said, swelling with pride. "Every Uno brand potion is made to perfection."

"How do you get the materials to make all these?" I asked gesturing to the rest of the store. I knew you could by some potion ingredients at shops, but none of the offered items that were at the caliber that was required to make these kinds of potions.

"Oh, I go out and get them off mobs," he said nonchalantly. "I also pay or trade some of my potions to those who bring me some good items."

"Hmm,"I mutter as I open up my inventory and look through my items. I select several of them and open a trade menu with Uno. "What can I get for these?"

He looks at the offered items that appeared on his screen and his eyes widened. "Holy crap! You've got ten poison barbs?!" he shouts in disbelief. "Those are only dropped by Giant Bees and they have a fifteen percent drop rate! How did you get so many."

I flashbacked to my quest in Dusk Forest and shuttered. "Let's just say it took me a while. So how much can I get for them."

Uno pondered this for a minute or two, doing several calculations in his head. "How about three of my healing potions, an antidote, and five hundred col?"

"Hmm," I said. "That sounds fair."

Uno smiled and selected the requested items and traded them for the poison barbs. "Excellent! With these I can craft high quality antidotes and potions of poison!" Uno cackled gleefully. He then frowned and looked up from his inventory. "I never did ask your name."

"It's DJ."

"DJ? That's a weird name, though I can't really talk," he laughs, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you."

"You too," I said, moving towards the exit.

"And if you come into possession of any rare alchemic ingredients, feel free to bring them here!"

"I'll do that," I said, giving Uno a two finger salute and exiting his store.

It was now very late at night, about a two hours before midnight and the start of a new year. Many players were gathering in the town square to celebrate the coming new year. Part of me wished to go too, but that would only cause problems. Instead I opted to enter Howling Cavern. This place had a few mobs called Mirage Bats that gave out a lot of experience when you beat them. Not many players knew about these bats and few took the time to search for them due to them being hard to find and even harder to hit. In my opinion, they were well worth the trouble.

I was currently sitting in an alcove with my back against the dark gray stone wall of the cave. I was taking a short rest from my hunt as I had already defeated five of them after about two hours of searching. Thanks to those bats I managed to level up once, increasing my already insane level. At this rate I could probably take on some of the previous floor bosses alone.

I sighed as I thought back to all of the bosses that we have face up to this moment. Due to being a beta tester, I knew more or less how the bosses fought, allowing me to get the last hit bonus on several of the bosses. While this further angered the masses, I did not let it get to me as I was supposed to be playing the enemy.

I banged the back of my head against the cold stone wall behind me and groaned. I hated being the enemy. I hated the glares. I hated the looks of fear. And I especially hated the isolation. I would constantly think back to the first boss fight and wonder what I could have done differently. Was there something I could have done to take the blame from the beta testers without isolating myself? I groaned and got to my feet. No matter how many times I thought about it, nothing could change the fact that I was now public enemy number one.

Pushing myself to my feet, I set off again through the winding tunnels of the cave. I quickly forgot about my previous thoughts as a continued my search for the elusive Mirage Bats. As I continued my hunt I thought back to my encounter with Uno. It was refreshing to run into someone who did not immediately think that I was evil and I sincerely hoped that his business would not suffer because of me.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I came to the mouth of a large chamber. The chamber was made from the same dark gray stone as the rest of the cave with large stalactites on the roof. The ground and walls, however, were smooth and without any cracks. However, the thing that caught my eye was the large statue in the center of the chamber.

I cautiously entered the chamber, a teleport crystal, primed to send me back to Gyris Town, clutched tightly in my off hand and my sword in my right. The statue, I noticed as I got closer, rested on a four foot pedestal, making it look bigger than it was. The statue itself was about eight foot tall and shaped like a bipedal lizard wearing an armored breastplate and tasset around its waist, a six foot tail poked out from under it. It wore greaves and sabatons on its legs and feet, and gauntlets covered its clawed hands. Its head was covered with a helmet that was shaped over its reptilian head. The visor of the helmet was down, covering the lizards face.

As I got within five yards of the statue two glowing red eyes appeared from beneath the visor, stopping me in my tracks. I bright light came from the statue, forcing me to shield my eyes from the statue. When the light died down I opened my eyes and saw, much to my horror, that the statue was no longer just a statue.

Standing on the pedestal was the creature that was the same size and shape as the statue. Its body was made up of electric blue scales and silvery armor covering its body. The armor was decorated with blue lightning bolts that seemed to glow eerily. Its glowing red eyes focused on me and it let out an ear splitting screech that sent a tremor through the chamber. Behind me a large stone wall shot up from the ground and sealing the mouth of the chamber, leaving the chamber pitch black. The same multicolored light that came from the walls of the first floor boss came from these walls, allowing me to see the armored lizard.

The creature then leapt off the pedestal and landed in front of me, giving off another screech. The air around its right hand shimmered as a five foot sword appeared in its hand. The sword was the same electric blue color as the creatures scales and gave off a blueish glow. The guard of the sword was bronze, jagged rectangle, reminding me slightly of a lightning bolt and the hilt was wrapped in leather with a blue jewel topping the bottom of the hilt.

Raising the sword over its head, the creature slashed downwards at me, attempting to cut me in half. I quickly jumped back and the blade clanged against the stone floor. I looked up at the creature and watched in horror as four health bars along with its name, Sleisha the Lightning Fast Slasher, appeared by its head.

"Shit." I immediately attempted to use my teleport crystal, but to my horror it did not work. I was trapped. Trapped with a monster that could rival a floor boss. I gulped nervously, but readied my sword regardless. I refused to go down without a fight.

Just as I readied myself, Sleisha shot forward, its sword glowing red and attempted to bisect me. Startled by the speed of this boss I was barely able to sidestep the strike, resulting in me receiving a slash across my side.

I gritted my teeth and delivered my own strike against Sleisha, leaving a long red slash across its flank. Sleisha screeched in outrage and spun around, attempting to strike me again. Predicting this, I managed to raise my sword in time to block the strike, though I was pushed back a few feet due to the strength behind the strike.

I growled as I spun on my left foot, my right coming off the ground, and rolled along the flat of the sword, allowing the sword to go past me. As soon as I face Sleisha again I shot forward, my sword glowing a soft green, and stabbed Sleisha in its belly. Before Sleisha could react, I pulled my sword harshly from the lizard's stomach and slashed it across its chest three times.

With another screech, Sleisha spun around and slammed its tail into my gut, knocking the wind from my lungs and sending my flying. I soared through the air and impacted against the opposite wall. I groaned as I pushed myself to my feet just in time to jump to the side to dodge yet another swing from Sleisha.

I quickly leapt forward and slashed Sleisha across its calves, mindful of the tail that was swinging dangerously close to my head. Sleisha spun around and slashed me across my back before I could get away and I cried out in pain. I stumbled forward from the hit and slashed wildly behind me, deflecting another strike that Sleisha sent towards me. I regained my footing and attempted to strike Sleisha across the chest, only for my attack to be deflected.

I was forced on the defensive as Sleisha activated another skill that caused its sword to erupt in dark blue light and slash at me at startling speed. Despite my best efforts I was hit several times from the attack and my health went into the yellow. As soon as the attack ended, I leapt forward and delivered several quick slashes across Sleisha's midsection, forcing the creature to stumble back.

I quickly opened my inventory and pulled out one of my new potions and downed it. My health bar almost instantly replenishing, just in time as Sleisha recovered and attacked me again.

I backpedaled as quickly as I could to avoid a slash sent towards my stomach, but I was too slow and Sleisha's blade grazed my stomach. Before I could retaliate, Sleisha brought its sword back around and aimed a strike towards my neck. I was barely able to duck under this strike as I could feel the wind generated from the sword blow through my hair. I ran forward and attempted to slash Sleisha, but it jumped back, causing my to overextend my arm.

Before I could rectify my mistake, Sleisha lashed out with its foot and kicked me into the air. Sleisha then leapt into the air, appearing above me. It grabbed its sword with both hands and brought it down towards my airborne body. Unable to dodge, I brought my sword in front of me to block or at least soften the blow. While I did manage to lessen the damage that the hit would have done, I was still sent rocketing towards the ground due to the force of the strike.

I slammed into the ground with such force that a created a small crater in the virtual stone of the chamber. I gasped as the air was forcibly expelled from my lungs. Luckily I recovered quickly and rolled to my right, avoiding Sleisha who plummeted to the ground after me, its sword pointed towards the ground.

As Sleisha's blade pierced through the floor, I got to my feet and jumped back in an attempt to put some distance between me and the creature. However, slashed brought its sword arm up, causing the sword to cut through the stone that had previously trapped it and graze me as I was still in the air. Just like that, my health was back in the yellow. Before I could pull out another potion, Sleisha came at me like a whirlwind.

For the next minutes all I knew was dodge, parry, and slash as I fought against Sleisha. I had no idea how long I had been fighting Sleisha. It felt like we had been fighting for days, but it could have been mere minutes for all I knew. My whole body screamed in protest as I deflected yet another strike from the relentless creature. I had used an additional two healing potions when I was given the opportunity, but I was almost immediately sent back into the yellow.

I gave a grunt as I pushed Sleisha's blade away and struck Sleisha across the chest, leaving yet another red gash on the lizard's body. Sleisha backed up and gave a pain filled screech as its third health bar was depleted. I barely had a moment to revel in my success before Sleisha was on me again, moving faster than it had before.

I blocked as many strike as I could, delivering my own when the opportunity presented itself, but slowly but surely my health went back into the yellow. I nearly fell over in exhaustion, my sword arm lowering causing my sword to dip towards the ground. Almost as if smelling victory, Sleisha launched towards me again, its sword glowing orange. Just as its sword was about to hit me, I leapt high into the air and activated my original sword skill. I came down on Sleisha, hoping to finish the creature off. I delivered the first four slashes without problem, but just as I spun back around to deliver the final two, Sleisha's eyes flashed and sidestepped around me, causing me to hit nothing but air.

My eyes widened as dark blue light engulfed Sleisha's sword and was helpless to defend myself as I was still in the middle of my attack. Sleisha struck with vengeance, delivering a flurry of strikes to my defenseless form. I was sent flying, my body covered in red slashes, and landed on my back, skidding across the ground. I finally stopped skidding when my head slammed into the pedestal that Sleisha previously occupied. My vision was blurred as my head cracked against the stone pedestal. When it finally recovered I saw that my health was in the red and Sleisha was slowly stalking towards me, as if savoring me death.

I tried to move my body, but it did not respond. I could only watch helplessly as Sleisha stood over me, its sword poised to pierce my heart. Time seemed to slow as Sleisha brought its sword down at a painfully slow pace. As the sword approached, images of my life seemed to flash before my eyes. I guess the sayings were true.

My eyes closed for what I thought to be the last time and let my body relax, accepting my fate. I thought back to how this started and cursed myself for not seeing the clear trap. As I laid their I thought back to all the people I knew and hoped that they would be alright. I hoped that someone was able to see through Dagur's lies and expose him for the fraud he was. I hoped that my family would be okay and be able to move on after I was gone.

My family...

"Mom, Elaine," I whispered.

Just as Sleisha's blade was about to kill me, my eyes snapped open and I swung my sword, causing the blade to sink into the ground and inch from my body. I was on my feet a second later, and slashing at Sleisha with a feral ferocity. I could not die here. My family was waiting for me in the real world and I would not keep them waiting.

Adrenaline pumped through my virtual veins as the primal instinct of self preservation took over. Everything from that point became a blur as I slashed and hacked at Sleisha. All of Sleisha's attacks either missed me or grazed me as I was moving faster than the beast could follow. I knew that my health was reaching dangerous levels, but I did not care. All that mattered was that I destroyed the monster in front of me.

"RAAH!" I roared, my sword cutting through the air and leaving a large gash across Sleisha's face.

With blood-curdling shriek, Sleisha's final health bar hit zero and the Lightning Fast Slasher exploded. I stood there stock still for a few seconds before doubling over as the adrenaline that once ran through my body vanished. I fell to one knee, gasping for air. If I was able to sweat in this game, I was sure that I would be drenched.

A reward box appeared in front of my face, showing that I had received two thousand col, thirty three thousand experience, enough to cause me to level up again, and a bonus item. Looking at the item I saw that it was a sword. Looking at the title of the sword I saw with shocked eyes that it was labeled _Sleisha's Saber_. Looking at its stats I saw that it not only dwarfed my current sword in strength and durability, but also increased my speed by five points.

"Almost makes it worth it," I grumbled, looking at my health bar. I was startled to see that I had only three hit points left. I had been one hit away from death.

I quickly grabbed my final health potion from my inventory and downed it. I watched in satisfaction as my health returned to the yellow. I decided right there and then to thank Uno for his superb potions. I sat their in the now empty room as I waited for my breath to return. The stone wall that blocked my escaped shook before sinking back into the ground, the lights on the walls fading away.

Just as I was about to get up, another glowing screen appeared in front of me, a small chime going off as it appeared.

 _Happy New Years. Hope your New Years is filled with happiness and cheer._

 _-Kane Harrison_

I stared uncomprehendingly, before I realized what the message was. "Sick bastard," I grumbled, dismissing the message and climbing to my feet. Kane Harrison had a sick sense of humor.

I brushed off my pants and pulled out my teleport crystal, not wanting to risk encountering a lot of mobs. As the blue energy of the teleport crystal engulfed my body I thought about my past New Years that I spent with my family. It was tradition in my family to come up with a New Years resolution for the new year. I normally ignored this, and gave a false resolution to appease my mother, but now, for the first time that I can remember, I had a New Years resolution. I resolved to never give and to keep fighting until I was out of this game. And _when_ I got out of here, I would find Kane Harrison and kick his ass.

 **Author's Notes:**

Hey guys, AuraFighter here. I just wanted to wish you all a happy New Years and I wish everyone the best in 2016.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The Silver Phantom

 **January 15th, 2023**

 **Boss Room, Floor 10**

"Keep going!" someone shouted. "The boss is almost down, just one more bar to go!"

We were currently engaged in a battle with the tenth floor boss, Polyphemus. Like the myth he is derived from, Polyphemus was a giant cyclops, with snaggletooth maw, pale skin. He was dressed in a tattered brown toga and held a large wooden club. His one, red, glowing eye narrowed angrily at us.

We had been fighting for about thirty minutes, not bad considering the first boss fight took close to an entire hour. Polyphemus did not summon any minions, unlike some of the other bosses, but made up for this with his sheer power and endurance. He started out with five bars of health, but due to his bulk, it took a lot of attacks to take out each bar.

Polyphemus roared in anger and charged me again. I sighed exasperation, preparing myself for another assault. Since Polyphemus' second bar was depleted, Polyphemus, like most of the players of SAO, seemed to gain some kind of vendetta against me. Honestly, I didn't that much damage to it compared to some of the spell casters in the back of the group.

I leapt back as Polyphemus club slammed into the ground in front of me. I had to be very careful of how much damage I took. I only had a limited amount of health potions and whether it was out of fear or hate, they were reluctant to heal me and I did not want to figure out if they would heal me if my health went into the red.

I heard the tell tale chants of spell casting and several fire balls fly over my head and slam into Polyphemus' face, causing him to roar in anger. Three blue glowing animals, a wolf, a tiger, and some kind of bird, leap past me and attacked the cyclops. They were clearly summoned creatures, brought to the battle by members of the summoner class. The three creatures bit, clawed, and scratched at the towering giant, but did little damage.

"Just stand back and let us handle this, _beta tester_ ," one of the summoners sneered, completely ignoring the fact that there summons were barely doing anything.

I chose not to answer as I kept my focus on the lumbering cyclops as he tried to swat the bird summon out of the air with its club. I did not want to make the mistake of taking my eyes off the target, especially since it apparently hated me.

"Archers!" a voice rung out. "Ready... FIRE!"

All at once multiple glowing arrows flew through the air and rained down upon Polyphemus. Polyphemus roared in anger and pain as the arrows penetrated his skin, but he quickly shrugged off the pain and slammed its club down upon the tiger, destroying it.

"Dammit!" one of the summoners growled.

With a wide swipe from his club, Polyphemus destroyed the remaining summons and knocked several players back. Seeing this, I charge forward, activating another sword skill, and attacked Polyphemus' arm as it came out of the swing, creating five long gashes across his arm.

Polyphemus roared in outrage and glared at me. I sweat-dropped. "Hehe...Oops," I muttered sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I got your back."

I turned and saw Jackson making his way towards me, a crossbow bolt in hand. He pulled out a vial of toxic green liquid and poured it on the bolt. Strangely, the bolt appeared to suck up the potion causing the tip to glow with the same toxic green as the potion. He loaded the bolt into his crossbow, leveled it at the creature and fired.

The crossbow bolt soared through the air and pierced his side. Polyphemus growled in pain and growled at Jackson before his entire body tenses as it seems become wracked with pain. Polyphemus' skin turned a sickly green color as Polyphemus growled in agony and a small square appeared next to his current health bar.

"Poison?" I ask, turning to Jackson.

"Yep," Jackson said smugly. "Alchemy skill. I can put the effects of my potions on my weapons."

"Nice," I said appreciatively. Before I could say more, Polyphemus roared in anger, regaining its ability to move. It looked down at us and glared hatefully. "I think you made it mad."

"Meh," Jackson said coolly.

"RAAH!" several players shouted as they charged Polyphemus, slashing and hacking at the creature. Polyphemus' health slowly began to drop as the green bar went to yellow to red.

"It's almost dead!" someone shouted.

"Finish it!" another shouted.

Just as the group attacking Polyphemus were about to finish him, Polyphemus swung his club, throwing the group back, leaving them prone.

"Crap," I muttered as Polyphemus raises his club to slam it into the players, several of whom were close to the red. I made a mad dash forward and slashed at the club, sending it off course. Unable to stop his swing, Polyphemus hit the ground just next to the downed players, causing the room to shake, but leaving the players unharmed. I activated yet another sword skill, this one enveloping my sword in a blue light, and leapt forward, my blade extended in a thrusting motion. Polyphemus didn't have a chance to defend itself as my blade stabbed through his gut.

"GRAAH!" Polyphemus shouted as his health drops to zero. Polyphemus shuttered for a second before bursting into pixels, the customary congratulations sign appearing where he once stood.

I sighed in relief. The fight was over, now we can...

"Damn beta tester!" a player growled. "He took the last hit bonus again!"

Damn. I should have seen that coming.

"His health is in the yellow! Quick, get him now!" I turned towards the voice and gave them a death glare. I was not in the mood for this crap.

The player, a male guardian with full plate armor, took a step back in fear before attempting to put on a brave face. He brought out his morning star and took a menacing, but still shaky, step forward, but was stopped when a familiar player placed a hand on his shoulder. Turning around the player was greeted by the scowling face of Reaper. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Reaper had changed a lot since the last time I saw him. He now wore armor that was more reminiscent of an actual samurai. He wore a red long sleeve shirt with a black breastplate over that. He had two rectangular spaulders, one on each shoulder, both black in color. Upon the right spaulder there was a golden symbol in the shape of a sword. Just below the breastplate, he wore a fauld, the same color as the rest of his armor, that cut off in the middle of his calf. He wore dark blue hakama pants with black sandal-like sabatons that showed his white socks. A long katana in his hand.

"What do you care?!" the player growled, throwing off Reaper's hand. "He just a worthless beta tester! And the worst of them on top of that!"

"I care because you were just about to attempt to PK another player," Reaper said coldly. The entire room became silent as Reaper's words sank in. The player began to sweat profusely.

"T-That's not it!" the player tried to deny. "I was just- I wasn't- He's a beta tester!"

"A beta tester who just saved the lives of several other players, something that the rest of you should take into account," Reaper pointed out.

There was subdued murmuring at this. I sighed in exhaustion and shook my head. I was really not in the mood for this.

Not wanting to deal the idiocy and bias of the players, I gave a quick thank you to Jackson and walked past the players, several of whom backed away from him while others sneered condescendingly. As I walked, I noticed Raven a little ways away giving a me an almost piteous look. She wore an outfit similar to what she wore when I first met her. Her shirt was purple like her other except it had red outlining the hems of the sleeves with a dark blue armor chest piece over it. She now wore black baggy pants with black soft-soled shoes on her feet. I shook my head and exited the boss room. The sooner I got to the eleventh floor, the better.

XXX

 **Kypris, Floor 11**

Like the other towns, Kypris had a Middle Age type feel with roads paved with cobble stone bricks, several stone buildings, and multiple booths selling various wares all around the town. I quickly made my way to the weapon shop, seeing if I could find a better sword than the one I currently wielded, Sleisha's Saber, but I there was nothing hat caught my eye. When I made my way out of the store I saw that other players were now appearing. Immediately took note of members of the Soldiers of the People raiding several booths and herb stores.

Knowing that I could get potions and like items from Uno's store, I quickly made my way to the armor store before it was cleaned out. I entered the shop and immediately looked through the listed armors for sale. I did not want anything too heavy as it would encumber my speed, despite my high...ish strength. I did not see any armor that would help without cutting my speed, though I did find a lightning bolt charm that raised my speed.

While this was not armor per say, it was, as it was called from the menu, a 'miscellaneous' item. Miscellaneous items came in the shape of rings, circlets, and similar items. The generally raised one stat whether it be strength, defense speed, or even charisma.

With my new charm equipped a made my way out of the store and began to explore the rest of the town. The players glared at me as I walked by, but by now I have grown almost immune to the stares. I had just gotten to the center plaza where a large golden statue of a man wielding a great sword stood in the center. Having nothing better to do at the moment, I began to walk towards the statue when a voice called my name.

"Hey, DJ!" I turned and saw Reaper making his way towards me, a smile on his face.

"Reaper," I acknowledged, allowing a small smile grace my visage. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it _is_ a new town, sooo..." Reaper drawled.

"Then why aren't you at the shops?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My guild mates are getting items from the shops," Reaper said.

"You're in a guild?" I asked.

"That's right." He showed me the golden sword symbol on his shoulder. "You're looking at the leader of The Invisible Blade. Where are motto is 'when God is gone and the devil takes hold, who will have mercy on your soul?'."

"That's a very... dark motto," I commented.

"Meh." He shrugged indifferently. "Anyway, how's it been?"

I gave him an "are you really asking me that?" look. "You know me. Doing quests, killing monsters, dealing with the hateful glares of players that are too wrapped up in Dagur's words to realize that we are all just trying to survive. Thanks, by the way, for standing up for me in the boss room."

"Don't sweat it. You would have done the same for me, I think." I gave him a cheeky smirk, not denying or agreeing with his statement. "Right, well speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?"

"Why do you deal with it?" Seeing my confused look he elaborated. "The glares, the fear and hatred directed towards you; why do you take it?"

I turned away from him and gaze at the statue. "Someone has to. If I hadn't done what I did they would have all gone through with Dagur's plan and hunt the other beta testers."

"But why did _you_ step up and make yourself out as an enemy like that?" he asked, slightly frustrated. "You obviously didn't orchestrate Jason's death, so why take the blame?"

"If they all have a common hatred towards me, they'll focus on me and not the other beta testers. While some still hunt for them, the majority of the players are too busy worrying about me and what I might do next than hunting beta testers."

"It's still not right. You've helped other players, but they still see you as an enemy!"

"It's for the best."

Reaper was silent for a moment, clearly still not agreeing with my stance. "Join my guild," he said abruptly.

"Pardon?" I asked, not sure if I had heard him correctly.

"Join my guild," he repeated. "We're not that big right now, but we're strong. We could use a player like you, so, please, join my guild.

I looked at him wide eyed for a moment before shifting my gaze to the cobbled ground. "I can't."

"Why not?" he asked.

"It would be bad for your guild to have 'public enemy number one' as one of your guild members."

"I don't care about that!"

"Well I do," I snapped, looking at Reaper. "You said it yourself, you're guild is small. If I join, no one will want to join you and some of your guild mates might leave. We've just gotten past the tenth floor, so everything is new. You can't afford your guild shrinking in size, it would be too dangerous."

"Exactly, everything is new so you don't know what will happen next either. It's too dangerous for a solo player this far into the game," Reaper argued.

"I'm sorry, but my answer is no," I said as I turned my back to him. I hear Reaper sigh in both agitation and defeat.

"Okay," he concedes. "but if you change your mind, my offer will be there. See you around, DJ."

"Yeah, see ya'" I said halfheartedly, still not facing him. I heard him give a sigh of defeat before the sound of receding footsteps reached my ears. I sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time today, my shoulders slumping in exhaustion. I really hated this game.

XXX

About a day after my conversation with Reaper, I found myself sitting in the local inn, eating a sandwich. Despite it being just a bunch of ones and zeros, it was a pretty good sandwich. Several of the other players were giving me glares, but I ignored them in favor of my sandwich.

"Damn beta tester, eating all our food," I heard a player growl from behind him. "Look at him, eating up all our food. What happens to the rest of us when we run out of food?"

I snorted at this. Food in the game was infinite, unlike armor, weapons, potions, and like items. Those items would replenish after a while, except the higher tier items which, once were out of stock, would be gone forever. And even if food runs out, one could always survive off of drops from some mobs. All it took was one player with a high enough cooking skill and someone could open up their own restaurant.

I returned my attention to my delicious sandwich, blocking out the conversations around me. As I ate, Reaper's offer played through my head. He was right of course. Everything would be more difficult from here on out. Joining a guild would greatly raise my chances of survival, especially with my guild mates being able to see my health at all times, meaning any healers could heal me without looking at me.

I was pulled out of my brooding when I heard a young voice cry out in desperation.

"Please! You've got to help my sister!"

I turned towards the voice and saw a young boy with medium length brown hair, probably around ten or eleven years of age, standing in front of two Soldiers of the People members. The boy was wearing a light brown tunic which appeared to be made of leather or some similar material. He wore red pants and leather pointed toed shoes. He appeared to not have any weapon on his person.

 _Bard,_ I thought to myself as I observed the kid. I turned my attention to the two Soldiers of the People and furrowed my eyes in recognition. _Those are the two jerks that tried to bully Uno into giving them free potions. What are they doing here?_

"Nothing doing, brat," the scrawny guild member sneered at the small child.

"Please!" the boy pleaded. "It's my sister, she needs help!"

"Not our problem," the member said.

"But you're the part of the Soldiers of the People!" the boy cried. "You're supposed to help us players!"

"We're on brake," the members drawled.

"But...but..."

"Look, kid," the other member spoke up. "Even if we weren't on break, we wouldn't do this. We're not about to go up against a dark guild just to save a little girl who's probably dead."

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" the boy shouted angrily, kicking the member in the shin.

"OW!" the player cried out, holding his shin and jumping on one foot. It would have been rather comical had the player not had a look of murder on his face. He shook off the pain and glares down at the child, who backed up fearfully. "You little brat!"

As the player took a menacing step towards the boy, I could no longer sit by. Abandoning my sandwich I dashed towards the trio and got between the boy and the large guild member, just as he was about to punch the kid. My arm shot out instinctively and caught the players fist, stopping him dead.

The entire inn became deathly silent at this action. The players that had been glaring at me were all surprised as I seemingly disappeared and reappeared in front of the player while others were shocked by my sudden intervention.

"Now, now," I scolded mockingly. "Didn't you're mother tell you not to fight those younger than you."

"Wh-wha?" the player said dumbly, not fully comprehending what had happened. He eyes then narrowed as he recognized who I was. "What are you doing here, murderer?"

"Murderer?" I questioned sardonically. "That's a new one. Anyway, I'm just stopping you from attacking a little kid."

"This doesn't concern you, _murderer_ ," he growled, his muscles straining as he tried to push down on me, but I stood firm.

"It is my concern when people like you bully those weaker than you," I stated coldly. "You are part of a guild that is supposed to help the people, yet you refuse to help a small child and his sister and then attempt to harm said child." My grip tightened on his hand, causing him to wince in pain, and pulled him forward so he was an inch from my face. I glared coldly at him.

"People like you make me sick. You claim to be warriors of the _people_ , yet you don't help them when they need it. You're hypocrites, the lot of you!"

"How dare you!" the other member shouted, pulling out his sword and swinging at me. I didn't even bother moving as the sword was stopped from hitting me by a blue hexagonal screen appeared between me and the sword. "What?"

"You can't attack other players in safe zones, idiot," I said, pushing the other guy away from me. "You can use physical attacks against each other, as they don't do damage to a players health bar."

"I-I knew that," the player said, trying to save face.

"'Course you did," I said sarcastically, turning my back on the two idiots.

"Don't you walk away from us!" the bulky player shouts, running at me, his fist cocked back in preparation for an attack. Just as his fist was about to impact against the back of my head, I dropped down to a crouch and spun on my right heel, my left leg stretching out as a spun. My leg slammed into his left shin, the same shin that the kid kicked, and pushed it to the side, causing him to lose balance and fall face first next to me.

"Don't you know it's disgraceful to attack someone from behind, especially if their stronger than you," I said condescendingly. I stood back up and brushed off imaginary dust from my pants before fixing the downed player with a look of disapproval. "I recommend you get your priorities straight."

With my piece said, I walked out of the inn, my half eaten sandwich forgotten.

XXX

"Damn Soldiers of the People," I grumbled to myself. "I didn't get to finish my sandwich."

I sighed, my shoulders slumping forward. I was really getting sick of the Soldiers of the People. They were just a group of hypocrites who's soul purpose is to make this game harder for everyone. If they truly wanted to help, then they shouldn't be taking all the best weapons in order to 'convince' others to join them.

"Hey, you," a voice called from behind me. I turned and saw the kid from earlier looking at me with determined hazel eyes.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Yeah, you can," the boy said, taking a few steps towards me until he was a foot away. We stared at each other, sizing each other up, for a solid minute before he bowed at his waist. "Please help me!"

To say I was shocked was an understatement. Here I was, the most hated player in the game, being asked for help by a little kid. What was this world coming to?

"You want _my_ help?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, please!" he begged, remaining in his bowed position.

"Why?"

"Because no one will help me!" He looked up, his eyes a little misty. "I've asked guild after guild, but no one will help me! I need to help my sister!"

"Okay, okay, okay," I said, holding my hands up in a placating manner. "I'll help."

"You will?!" he asked, his eyes lighting up, his previous tears seemingly disappearing.

"Yes, I will," I relented.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" he said excitedly.

"Okay, just calm down," I said, holding my hands out parallel with my body. When he finally calmed down I asked, "So what do you need help with?"

His expression became one of complete solemness. "It happened the other day, when my sister and I were going through Shrouded Canyon on floor five. We were ambushed by a dark guild."

Dark guilds. My hands tightened into fists at the name. The term dark guilds was given out to guilds who have either injured and stole from players or have committed the ultimate unspoken taboo of the game. Killing another player or PKing.

When a player is killed by another player it is seen as murder as the player that died would be killed in real life as well. All red players are treated even worst than me as they are considered murderers. Some towns go as far as to try forcibly kick out red players from the towns. Because of this, red players began to band together, forming death guilds; dark guilds completely made up of red players.

As they were shunned by the players in the towns, death guilds, as well as some yellow guilds, tended to set up shop in or at the outskirts of of red zones, locations where enemies would spawn. In order for a guild to create a base of operation in a red zone they would first have to find a wild zone within the area. Every red zone had at least one wild zone within it. Depending on the size of the red zone, the safe zone(s) could be very large or rather small. These zones acted as in a similar fashion to safe zones, prohibiting enemies from entering or spawning in the zone. The only difference between safe and wild zones is the fact that players could harm other players in the area created in red zones.

"They surrounded us, attacking us until we were in the red," the boy continued. "I thought we were dead until they stopped attacking us and demanded all of our items. We gave them to them, fearing for our lives, but it wasn't enough. They wanted more and when we said that we didn't have anything else, they took my sister saying that if wanted her back I would have to bring twenty thousand col to Twisted Garden on floor six by this time tomorrow." The boy clenches his fists and began to cry.

"I couldn't do anything, but watch helplessly as they took my sister. She cried and shouted for me, but I couldn't do anything!"

I watched silently as the kid broke down in front of me. My heart truly went out to the kid. No one should have to go through what he did, especially in a place like this. I waited for him to calm down a little before speaking.

"Their icons," I began slowly. "do you remember what color they were?"

If it was a bunch of red players that ambushed him and his sister, then she was probably already dead and they were tricking Travis into giving them more money before they killed him as well.

"Y-Yeah," he sniffed, wiping his eyes. "They were all yellow."

I let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief. If they were a yellow guild then they most likely would not kill the girl regardless if Travis brought the money or not. Even so... "About how many of them were there?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," he confessed. "It all happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to look properly. I think there were seven of them?"

"Hmm," I said crossing my arms in thought. "Based on what you described, these guys are most likely a small dark guild who go around and prey on weak players or those who lack superior numbers. Since they are all yellow players it is unlikely that they would kill your sister if you don't bring the money, so no need to worry about that."

He opened his mouth to argue, but I raised a hand for silence. "Even so," I continued. "I'm not sure how they will react to you not showing up, so it will be for the best to go."

"So you'll help me get my sister back?" he asked hopefully.

"I already said I would, didn't I?" I said, giving the kid a reassuring smile. "I promise you that we'll get your sister back. And when DJ makes a promise, it's as good as done."

"DJ?" he questioned.

"That's my name," I clarified. "And yours is...?"

"Oh, right! I never introduced myself!" he exclaims. He then smiles widely and puts his hand out. "The name's Travis!"

I take his hand and shake it. "It's nice to meet you, Travis. Now, let's get your sister back!"

XXX

 **January 17th, 2023**

 **Twisted Garden, Floor 6**

Early the next morning, Travis and I made our way to Kypris' warp pad and teleported to the sixth floor. After about an hour later, the duo made their way to Twisted Garden.

Despite the name, Twisted Garden was more of a forest mixed with a park. There was a gray-stone path that cut through a dense forest of dead, gnarled, black trees, devoid of any leaves. The grass around the trees was black with random patches of devoid of any vegetation. All around the edges of the path were what appeared to be two black roses with five inch thorns running down the stem. The only light was from the virtual sun which was partially blocked by the twisted branches of the trees.

"This place is creepy," Travis said, clutching his short sword (which I had given him before we headed out along with several potions as he had no items) tightly.

"A little cliché if you ask me," I commented dryly. "Kidnapping someone and taking them to a creepy location... Yeah, real Scooby Doo here. You said they told you to meet them at the end of this place?"

"Yeah," Travis said, steeling his nerves. "They said to be there by noon today."

"Then we best head out now. It will take us a few hours to get their." With that, the two of us began our trek through the garden.

XXX

As we trekked through the dark forest we encountered several low level mobs. Well, low level to me that is. Travis had some difficulty dealing with some of the monsters that attacked us, especially the wood giants; large golems made out of the same blackened wood as the trees. I normally took care of them, but I did have Travis try his hand at fighting them in order to give him some experience.

Another mob that gave us a little trouble were the Dark Alraune, large humanoid plant creatures. Unlike normal Alraune who had light green skin and dark green leave dresses, Dark Alraune had dark gray, almost black, skin and black deadened leaves fashioned into a skirt and a sleeveless belly-shirt. While they were physically weak, they had an ability called allure, which disperses a sweet smelling powder into the air that could cause a myriad of status conditions from poison to confusion.

After about two hours of trekking and fighting, Travis and I found ourselves hiding behind a rather large tree a few yards away from a clearing. In the clearing a group of eight players, all with yellow icons above their heads, were sitting in a circle, seemingly waiting for something. Looking towards the back of the group I spotted a young girl, about a year younger than Travis, with medium length brown hair and light green eyes, filled with terror. She wore a pink and white robe over a light brown tunic and beige colored pants. Even from here I could see the tear tracks on her cheeks.

"That's her," Travis growled next to me. "That's my sister, Diana. We have to help her!"

He made to move towards the group, but I grabbed his arm to still him. "Hold on, running in guns blazing will put us and your sister in danger," I said. "Just sit tight and leave this to me."

"But-" he tried to say, but I cut him off.

"Look, Travis," I said, crouching down to his level. "We're going up against eight dark guild members at unknown levels. No offense to you, but you're outclassed here."

"But I can't just sit here and do nothing!" he said. "She's my sister!"

"And I will help her," I stated firmly. "but I won't be able to do that if I'm worrying about you." Seeing his still rebellious face I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Travis, I promise you that I will rescue your sister. So, please, just sit tight."

He glared defiantly at me with hard eyes, engaging in a battle of wills. Despite his hard look, I could see the turmoil, fear, and desperation in his eyes. He stared for a few moments longer before he broke the gaze and looked down in defeat, all the fight seeming to leave his body. "Okay," he relented.

I gave him a wry smile and gripped his shoulder reassuringly and got to my feet. "Good, now sit tight and prepare to be amazed." As I said this I got to my feet and walked towards the clearing.

XXX

I calmly walked into the clearing, assessing the players in front of me. The eight players were all about the same height, around my height, each holding wicked looking swords, spears, and axes, not a single spell caster amongst them. One player, who appeared to be the leader judging by how the others cowered from him, was about six foot five, clearly an adult player, with fairly ragged long hair, tan skin, and a rough mustache and goatee. He wore a studded leather armor on his torso and some kind of animal pelt kilt. He held a large great ax in he hands.

As soon as got within several feet of the group, a thin seedy member spotted him.

"Halt!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and brandishing a dagger. "Who goes there?"

"Really?" I deadpanned. "And I thought the woods were cliché."

"State your business!" he shouted. By this time, the rest of the group was alerted to my presence. I noticed from the corner of my eye that some were reaching for their weapons.

"Oh, you know, sightseeing," I said sarcastically. "I heard that Twisted Garden was lovely this time of year."

"...Really?"

"Oh my God, NO!" I shouted in annoyance. How could anyone be that stupid? "I'm here for the girl."

"Hmph, so the brat went and squealed, did he?" the larger player says, getting to his feet and lumbering towards Diana. "I guess he doesn't care about his sister. Unless of course, _you_ have the money."

"I've got money," I said vaguely.

"Then, seeing as the brat didn't come himself, if you give us all your money and items I would be more inclined to... release such a lovely flower." As he says this he runs a hand down Diana's cheek, causing her to flinch and attempt to back away.

I glare a little at this action. This guy was a creep. I had to force my self to smile apologetically.

"Well now, that raises a problem," I said.

"Problem?" he asked, a dangerous edge creeping into his voice.

"Yeah, you see I have no intention of giving up my items."

"Then I guess you won't be getting the girl."

"That's another problem," I said in false sympathy, giving an exaggerated wince. "You see I gave my word that I would return the girl and I don't intend to go back on my promise."

"Then I guess you're not going to leave," he said, and evil smile crossing his face. He snaps his finger and the rest of members get to their feet, fingering their weapons.

"Now, now," I said as I raised my hands and gave my best impression of a nervous, and slightly scared, smile. "Can't we reach discuss this like civilized people?"

"Sure we can," the large player said evilly. "You give us all of your items and col and we don't kill you."

I gave a fake hiss of pain. "That's a problem, remember? I don't have any intention to losing my stuff."

"Then die." As he said this, the rest of the group encircled me, grinning evilly. "You should have thought twice before you went up against Talfor and Precipice Demon!"

"Wait, you guys are Precipice Demon?" I asked. Upon getting a proud nod from the hulking player I did the only thing I could. I laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"What's so funny?!" he snarled angrily.

"Y-You guys are Precipice Demon?" I laughed, clutching my sides. "That's rich! Here I thought that you guys were a threat." I wipe away a stray tear from my eye. "Looks like I was worrying for nothing."

"Wh-What?" Talfor spluttered in surprise and anger. I could see a vein on the side of his head begin to throb in his anger.

"Honestly, thought I was going up against someone like Hell's Wrath or Dire Fang, but Precipice Demon? Ha! I won't have to try hard against you guys!" I said superiorly.

"You little brat!" Talfor said angrily, advancing towards me, raising his ax above him in preparation for an overhead swing. "I'LL TEACH YOU TO MOCK PRECIPICE DEMON!" As he said this, he swung down with his ax, not noticing the smirk that appeared on my face.

WHOOSH

The ax cut through the air and cut through my form, but instead of giving resistance, the ax just passed through my body like it was made of air. Without anything to resist against the strike, the ax slammed into the ground with a loud thud. This caused my 'body' to fade away like it was never there.

"What the hell?" Talfor asked, completely in shock.

"Darn, you almost had me," I said, seemingly appearing next to Diana, startling her and the rest of the players assembled. "You gotta be quicker than that if you want to hit me."

"How did you...? It doesn't matter!" Talfor shouted, charging towards the two of us, his ax raised. "I have you now!"

"Do you?" I asked sarcastically, grabbing Diana just as the blade passes through me yet again with the same results occurring except this time Diana disappeared too. I reappeared slightly behind the outer rim of the group with Diana in my arms. I quickly set her down and said, "Get out of here. Your brother is a few yards away. Take him and get out of here!"

"But what about you?" she asked in concern.

I give her a confident smile. "Don't worry about me, I can handle these guys."

She seemed to have an internal debate with herself for a moment before she nodded and ran towards the treeline.

"GET BACK HERE!" Talfor shouted angrily at Diana. He made to go after her, but I appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

"Tsk, tsk. Now didn't your mother ever tell you not to bully little kids?" I asked rhetorically. "If you want her, you're going t have to get past me."

"Damn you!" he growled angrily as he watched Diana exit the clearing.

"What is he?" one of the players asked in fear.

"He just disappears and reappears at will!" another said. "Is he a ghost?"

 _These guys really are idiots_ , I thought to myself, a sweat-drop forming on my brow. _That and they must have_ really _bad stats to not know what I did_.

In reality, what I did was use pure speed to move from one place to another. What Talfor hit was merely and afterimage, and ability I picked up for being the first person to max out their speed stat. This was called a final ability; an ability earned when a player is the first to max out a certain stat, such as speed, strength, or dexterity, or a subclass skill. This was actually what Uno used against the floor boss. It was a final ability given to someone who maxes out their own alchemist skill.

Anyway, the afterimage technique, as the name suggests, leaves a clone in my place as I move away. It's primary function is to distract an enemy or trick them into attacking the clone instead of me. However it can clearly be seen by someone who has a high speed stat or perception stat, something which these players clearly did not have.

"Well now, shall we dance?" I asked coyly, unsheathing my sword.

"You won't hurt us," Talfor said, trying to look confident. "You're a green player. If you hurt us your icon will tun yellow and everyone will know that you injured another player! You will be scorned and shunned if you-"

He was cut off by my sword slashing him across the chest, taking away a sliver of his health and turning my icon from green to yellow.

"I'm already scorned and shunned," I said with a dead voice. "A simple color change is nothing to me."

Talfor takes and involuntary step back in fear. "Who are you?"

"Boss, I-I think I know who he is," the member that told me to halt said. "Dreadlocks, greenish-gray eyes, a silver coat, the ability to seemingly disappear and reappear. I'm positive about it. He's the Silver Phantom!"

"The S-Silver Ph-Phantom?" a player asked fearfully. "H-He's h-him?"

"Silver Phantom?" I asked. "I have a moniker? Cool. Anyway, I have a proposition for you."

"Wh-what is it?" Talfor asked, trying to sound brave, but I could hear the fear in his voice.

I pulled out a small, blue, rectangular crystal. "This is a teleport crystal that is keyed in to a player run jail back in the Town of Beginnings. You are to take it and give yourselves up to the players there."

"WHAT?!" Talfor shouted in outrage.

"You heard me," I said seriously. "I want you to turn yourselves in."

"Not going to happen!" Talfor yelled, holding his ax with both hands. "Silver Phantom or not, you can't beat us all!" As he said this, the rest of the group began to find new confidence and hold their weapons threateningly.

I sighed tiredly. "Fine, if that's the way you want it..." I pocketed the crystal and hold my sword out in preparation for battle. "Then come at me!"

The group was hesitant to attack me, but a brave, or very stupid, player ran at me from behind with a long sword in his hands, screaming as he ran. I almost face palmed at this guys idiocy. If he wanted to hit me catch me off guard, he should not have shouted. I ducked down, avoiding his sword, and spun on my heel, slashing the offending player across his stomach. The player grunted in pain and stumbled back. I quickly jumped to my feet and delivered a swift thrust kick to the players chest and sent him tumbling to the ground.

I heard the sound of approaching footsteps from my left side and I instinctively step back with my left foot and swing my sword and my body moved, deflecting the sword strike that was originally aimed towards my left flank. I then smacked him across the head with the flat of my blade, stunning him, and jumped over him, avoiding Talfor as he tried to cleave me in two while my back was turned.

I landed nimbly on my feet and spun around, delivering a slash to the players unguarded back. I did not want to use any skills against these guys as they were low level and my skills would probably kill them. I then leapt backwards, spinning my body as entered the air and swiped my sword across the chests of two surprised dark guild members.

Sensing a presence, I leapt back into the air with a back flip, avoiding a player who tried to turn me into a shishkebab with his spear, and sent a strike, while I was still in the air, across the nape of the spear wielder's neck. As soon as I landed I shot off towards several of the undamaged members, weaving through the other players who tried to strike me as I ran past.

I appeared in front of three of the undamaged group, startling them to the point where they almost fell on their butts. Before they could even cry out in alarm, I had already dealt several slashes against them. I then moved to the side and attacked the remaining members. They tried to hit me with their weapons, but, to me, they were practically moving in slow-motion. I easily evaded their strikes and delivered my own attacks against them, knocking their health bars to the yellow.

I then moved to my right, leaving an afterimage in my place. Just as I did this, a red glowing ax swung and slashed through my afterimage, earning a scream of annoyance from Talfor. I smirked to myself and spun around, blocking a glowing green sword that tried to pierce through my torso. I parried the strike, causing the players sword arm to fly into their, leaving himself wide open. Capitalizing on this, I lunged forward with a thrust of my own, taking away a good chunk of the player's health.

At this point, he members of Precipice Demon became slightly fearful. I figured that it was because I had knocked all of them, except Talfor, down to the yellow. All of them, sans Talfor, began to step back in fear.

"Come on you cowards!" Talfor said, trying to rally his men, but they were reluctant to fight me.

"Instead of hiding behind your men, why don't _you_ fight me," I goaded. "Unless... you're scared."

"You little..." he growled angrily, his grip on his ax tightening. "I am the master of Precipice Demon!"

"Yet you cower behind your members," I commented. "Some master."

"CHEEKY BRAT!" he shouted, charging me, his ax glowing yellow as he swung wildly at me.

A confident smirk found its way upon my face as I easily dodged his wild swings, merely ducking and twisting my body so his swings passed by me. The yellow sheen that engulfed his ax faded, leaving him temporarily immobile. I quickly dashed forward, becoming a silver blur and swept past Talfor, slashing him across his flank.

"GAH!" he shouted in pain, instinctively turning around, swinging his ax at me. I duck his strike and stab him in his side, taking away even more of his health.

Talfor gives another roar of pain and swings down with his ax, the blade glowing a dull green color. I dive towards the ground, tucking my head in and pushing forward with my shoulder, turning my dive into a roll. I quickly got to my feet and spun back around slashing Talfor across his forearms. Before he could react I brought my sword over head and swung it down diagonally, leaving a long red gash across his chest.

Talfor stumbled back before regaining his footing and glaring at me. His blade glowed blood red and he leapt high into the air, surprising me slightly. He grabbed his ax with both hands and swung downwards towards me, a vindictive smirk on his face. I give him a superior smirk, causing his smirk to falter, and sidestepped to the side, causing the ax to slam into the ground next to me, cracking the ground under him. As soon as the ax slammed into the ground, I pivoted on my heel and spun 360 degrees, slicing Talfor across his chest.

Talfor gave a grunt as my blade took away more of his health. He pulled his ax from the ground, but before he could make any sort of attack against me, I swung my sword against his head with the flat of my blade, sending him into a daze. I then kicked him in a face hard enough that if this were the real world he would have a broken nose.

He slumps back and hits the ground with a dull thud as his eyes were slightly glazed from the two consecutive hits. When he came out of his daze he tried to get up, but was stopped by my sword resting at his throat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said coldly. "You really can't afford to lose any more hit points."

At this, he looked up at his health bar and paled when he saw that it was now flashing blood red. "Y-You won't kill me," he said, trying to sound confident, but fail to hide his stutter. "You'll become a red player. You'll be shunned!"

"As I said, color does not matter to me," I stated coldly. "I'm already hated by all players. I am a beta tester, the most hated one at that. A simple color change won't change anything. Now, surrender." I push my sword tip deeper into throat, creating a small red cut, which caused his health to drop down a little more.

"Okay, okay!" Talfor shouted desperately, dropping his ax in fear. "I give, I give!"

I held my sword at his throat for a second later, before bringing it back to my side. "Smart move," I said, pulling out the crystal from earlier and tossing it onto his chest. He fumbles with it before grabbing it. He gives me one last fearful look before teleporting away. I turn around and face the remaining members. "As of now, Precipice Demon is disbanded. Now get out of here!"

Not needing to be told twice, they all run away fearfully, most likely spreading rumors about the power of the Silver Phantom. When they were all gone, I sighed and brought out another teleport crystal and teleported to Oylisia, the closest town to Twisted Garden.

XXX

 **Oylisia, Floor 6**

"Look at him. His icon is yellow!"

"He must have attacked another player!"

"The beta tester is injuring players now!"

"We need to do something before he attacks more players!"

I internally groaned when I heard these words. As soon as I appeared in town, the players assembled instantly noticed my now yellow icon. The looks of fear and hatred intensified amongst the players because of this.

I walked through the streets, keeping my gaze towards the ground to avoid making eye contact with any players. I figured that I would just go to the inn to get some rest when my path was blocked by two players. I gave a short sigh, expecting to be glared and shouted at. I looked up and, to my surprise, was greeted with the thankful expressions of both Travis and his sister.

"Travis? Diana? What are you two doing here?" I asked.

"When we got out of Twisted Garden, we were worried about you so we waited here to see if you were okay," Travis said.

"I told you I would be fine," I said kindly.

"But you became a yellow player because of us!" Diana exclaimed guiltily.

"It's fine," I said, waving off her concern.

"But-"

"Don't worry," I said, crouching down and placing a comforting head on her shoulder. "No harm no foul."

"Even so, we can't thank you enough," Travis said. "If it wasn't for you... Diana would be..." Tears began to form in his eyes.

"Like I said, no harm no foul," I said, giving him a smile.

"I wish there was something we could give you as payment for helping us," Diana whispered, tears of happiness beginning to cascade down her face. "But we lost all our stuff..."

"I don't need a reward," I said bashfully. "I'm just glad I could help. Though, I think I can help with your problem." As I said this, I opened up my menu, press a few buttons, and open up a trade with Travis. A second goes by before a window appears before Travis. He clicks it and his eyes widen almost comically.

"You're giving us fifteen _thousand_ col?!" he shouted incredulously, looking from his screen, to me, and back to the screen.

"That should be enough to replace the items that you lost with some money left over," I said.

"W-We can't accept this!" Diana said, still reeling from shock. "Not after you saved me!"

"It's really no problem," I said, waving off her concern. "I still have plenty of col left over so it won't affect me much."

"But..."

"Oh! I've also got something for you," I said to Diana, reopening my menu. After a few seconds another window appears in front of Diana.

"The Golden Fleece?" Diana said, looking at the item. "What's that?"

"It's a rare item that I got for landing the last hit on the tenth floor boss," I explained. "While it doesn't offer more defense than regular leather armor, when equipped it restores the wearers health over time."

"Wh-What?!" they both exclaim in shock.

I chuckle and get to my feet. "Use it well and be careful out there," I said, walking away from the two kids and towards the inn.

When I got about five yards away, the two of them managed to snap themselves out of their stupor call out to me.

"Thank you!" I heard them shout. "For everything!"

Not looking back, I raise my hand almost lazily and give them a small wave, smiling to myself not noticing the looks of shock that appeared on the faces of the players that witnessed the scene.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The Swashbuckler and The Sorcerer

 **AN: Just as a warning for this chapter, there are mentions of suicidal thoughts. I know that this is a sensitive subject for many people so if this upsets you in any way, read at your own risk. If you choose to continue reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **March 3rd, 2023**

 **Solemn Tomb, Floor 20**

 **3rd person POV:**

A young girl, probably around fifteen or sixteen, was running through the obsidian corridors of Solemn Tomb. She had fair skin, hazel eyes, and long auburn hair which hung just above the small of her back. She wore a violet blouse with black trim. She also wore long skirt of the same color, knee high black stockings, and black shoes. In her hand was and ebony wand with a golden vines twirling around it.

Her feet thudded against the black floor as she ran full speed down the winding corridor. She turned his head, glancing over her shoulder, her face full of fear. Behind her were five spirits, ghostly monsters with glowing red eyes and long, blue, translucent cloaks that haunted this zone. The skin that was visible from under their cloaks was chalk white and translucent like their cloaks. Their hands curled into gnarled claws that grasped forward, intent on clawing the girl they were chasing. Each spirit stood about three foot tall, almost half the girls size.

The girl panted as she continued push forward despite her fatigue. She turned and pointed her wand over her shoulder.

"Frisa Shulsva!" she chanted, activating her magic. The tip of her became alight with a light blue energy as a large ball of fire erupted from it and shot towards the advancing spirits.

Four of the spirits scattered in order to avoid the large fireball while the fifth was not able to move in time and was consumed by the flames. The spirit gave a loud eerie wail as it was destroyed by the flames. The girl allowed herself a smirk of satisfaction which soon fell from her face when the spirits converged on her again.

One of the spirits, launched forward in a burst of speed and clawed at her exposed back. The girl cried out in pain as the claws racked across her back, sending her already yellow health bar closer to the red. She stumbled forward, but quickly regained her footing and took ff down the hallway.

The girl continued to run through hallway after hallway in hopes of escaping her pursuers, but they stayed on her tail. She turned another corner and her heart sank when she saw she had hit a dead end. She turned around, intent on doubling back, but was blocked by the four spirits appearing in front of her.

She backed up slowly, keeping her wand pointed at the spirits. She attempted to cast another spell, but she noticed that her MP bar was almost completely empty. She didn't have enough MP to cast any spells.

Almost as if they sensed her plight, the spirits haunting faces broke out in terrifying grins. The advanced towards the terrified girl at a painstakingly slow pace, adding to the fear the girl was experiencing.

The girl jumped slightly when her back hit the wall, stopping her movement. Her wand arm fell to her side, the wand falling from her grip and clattering against the cold unforgiving ground as a sense of hopelessness invaded her thoughts. The spirits continued their advance at a sedate pace as if they were purposly trying to drag out their 'hunt'.

It had started out as a simple quest to retrieve an item from this dark desolate place. However, upon entering this godforsaken place she found that she was severely under level. The only reason she had survived this long was by running from all the mobs that attacked her. Her luck ran out however when she ran into these five spirits, who refused to leave her alone. It had taken all of her MP to take down just one of the spirits and now she was helpless.

She sank to the ground, adding to her forlorn situation. Tears of despair prickled at the corners of her eyes as she helplessly watched the spirits advance. She had not asked for this. She had just wanted col so that she could pay for food. She never asked to be in this situation, she had only purchased this game because some her friends had also bought the game. She missed her family; her caring mother, her strict, but loving father, even her annoying brat of a brother. Now she'll never see them again.

Tears now fell from her eyes in a steady stream as the spirits grew closer and closer. She wished that the monsters would hurry up and kill her already and end these horrible feelings. The front most spirit stopped just in front of her, grinning wickedly down at her. It rose its hand in preparation to end the girls life.

The girl looked up at the monster with dull blank eyes as she had given up hope. The claw that would end her life descended upon her in practically slow motion, making the girl feel like life was enjoying watching her suffer. She closed her eyes in submission, waiting for the blow that would end her life.

A second passed, then another, and another yet still nothing happened. She tentatively opened her eyes and saw that the spirit's claw was frozen inches from her face. She looked up at the spirit and saw that it was frozen, pure shock written all over its face. It gave a pain filled wail before bursting into pixels.

Startled, she looked at the remaining three spirits and saw they had matching expressions of shock on their faces. They each gave an equally blood-curdling screech before bursting into pixels. Standing behind where the spirits once stood was a man, well a boy probably around her age, dressed in a hooded silver and black trench coat. He had long black pants and black combat boots. A long blue blade in his hand and a yellow cursor above his head.

He regarded the girl with a look of concern and slight wariness in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

The question didn't process through the girl's mind at first as she was still reeling from what had just happened. When she finally realized that her savior was still awaiting her response.

"W-What?" she asked dumbly.

"I asked if you were okay," he asked.

"Y-Yeah," she said. A hand appeared in front of her face, startling. She looked up and saw that the boy was offering her a hand. She hesitantly reached out and took his hand, allowing him to lift her to her feet. "What are you doing here?"

"I was completing a quest that called for seven shadow bat wings," the boy explained. "I just finished when I saw you being chased by those spirits. Nice fireball spell by the way."

"Why?"

"Why what?" he asked, confused.

"Why did you interfere?" she clarified.

"Interfere?" he inquired. "You mean save your life.?

"Yeah."

A flicker of surprise flitted across his face. "Why wouldn't I? I couldn't just let you die while I stood idly by."

"But it's pointless!" she exclaimed. "Sure you saved me today, but it won't do any good. I'll just die later."

"What do you mean?" he asked, slightly alarmed.

"Well I'll obviously die later in the game," she explained. "I'm stuck in this hellhole of a reality, where all we can do is die in a futile attempt of beating an impossible game devised by a sadistic madman who gets off on making kids kill themselves!"

It was like a damn broke for the girl as she fell to her knees, her hands covering her face as she cried. "It's hopeless, there's no way that we'll make it to the hundredth floor and beat the boss. We're going to be stuck here until we're all killed. I'm doomed to die here, alone without seeing my family again. I might as well just die and save myself the pain." She whispered the last part to herself, though the boy in front of her heard her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, completely shocked by the girl's apathy towards her own life. "So you're just going to kill yourself?!"

"I don't see why not," she said bluntly, her tone dead and hollow. "I'll just die later, so why not get it over with."

"You can't just kill yourself!" he exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"You said you had a family, right?" She nodded. "Well don't you want to see them again?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"Well you won't be able to see them if you die here! If you want to see them again, then fight!"

"But I can't!" she shouted. "I almost got killed by those monsters that you killed in seconds! What hope do I have?! Besides, at least if I die here, I have a chance to see my family in the next life." She added the last part as a whisper.

"I'm a... special case. You shouldn't compare yourself to me. Besides, if you are worried about being weak then go to another floor to train."

"What's the point? I'll just die in a boss raid or by some mob."

"Well if you don't want to fight then just live until we are able to beat the final boss. Then you'll be free to see your family!"

"There's no way that you'll be able to beat the last boss. We've already lost over two thousand players to this damn game," she said cynically, her dull eyes peering at him. "And why would I want to live in this world. It's ugly and full of death and sorrow."

"You have a really pessimistic view on life," he said bluntly. He grabbed her wrist, startling her, and pulled her through the corridor.

"W-What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"I'm going to show you that there's still so much to live fore," he said determinedly. "The names DJ, by the way. You?"

She was silent for a few minutes, simply looking at the ground as she was pulled along. "...Circe."

"Huh?"

"My name, it's Circe."

-Virtual-

 **Flouris Village, Floor 17**

 **Normal POV:**

 _Maybe I shouldn't have jumped in like that_ , I thought to myself, glancing at the apathetic girl that trailed behind me. _Sure I couldn't just let her die in the place, but know I'm stuck with a potentially suicidal teen._

I sighed inaudibly. I couldn't focus on those thoughts at the moment. I had to focus on on showing this girl that there was still so much to live for. Hence why I brought her to Flouris Village.

Flouris Village, despite the shops and buildings being made a gray dull stone, the entire place seemed to give off a bright and warm energy. Littered throughout the village there were flowers of various shades and colors. The dirt roads branched off in several directions, leading to the various buildings of the village. Large trees encircled the village in a large semi-circle. The sun starting to lower in the sky, bathing the village in an orange light.

"So what are we doing here?" Circe asked dully, breaking the silence.

"Like I said before, I'm going to show you that there are things in this world isn't just one big torture chamber," I explained.

"And you're doing that by taking me to an olden village?" she asked rhetorically.

 _Curse my bleeding heart._ "No, the village is only the first stop," I said. "There's a quest here that I want us to take."

At the word 'quest' Circe's face grew pale. I saw this and immediately knew that she was thinking about the quest she had taken at Solemn Tomb. "Don't worry, this quest will be more your speed," I pacified. "The mobs that spawn where we have to go are a lot weaker than those spirits that attacked you in Solemn Tomb."

She became noticeably relaxed when I said this, but there was still an air of wariness surrounding her. Her eyes still held the same apathy that they held since I first met her, but I did pick up a spark of interest in them. I smiled lightly at her and motioned for her to follow me.

I led her to the village's quaint little inn, multicolored flowers lining the roof and windowsills. I pushed the door open and made a show of bowing her in, giving her a playful smirk.

"After you Milady," I said, lowering the tone of my voice so I sounded like a stereotypical butler.

Circe rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh hardy, har, har,"she laughed sarcastically, walk by me without a second glance. Despite her apathy, I swore that I saw a faint smile.

Inside the inn were several booths with red cushions and about five wooden tables with four chairs around each. Floral baskets filled with various flowers hung from the ceiling. The pots holding the the flowers were made of some kind of colored reflective material that when the light hit them, colors bounced off them, filling the room with more color. There was a bar with a NPC standing behind it, cleaning a mug. The inside of the inn was illuminated by the sun light that spilled through the windows. There were several lamps scattered around the inside of the inn for when the sun set.

There were very few players in this village as it didn't provide very high caliber items. The ones that were there gave me hard glares before returning to what they were doing. Unfortunate for me, Circe picked up on the glares.

"Why are they looking at you like that?" she inquired.

"Let's just say I'm not well liked in this game," I said vaguely, slightly surprised that Circe hadn't heard of me. I didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Thankfully, Circe let the topic drop and followed me to the bar. Sitting at the end of the bar was an elderly NPC dressed like an average farmer with dark blue overalls and a white dress shirt. He had tanned skin from working outside all the time, a scraggly dark brown beard, sunken black eyes, and short messy hair the same shade as his beard. A big red exclamation point hovering over his head and a grim expression on his face.

When we approached the elderly man, he turned to us and gave us a hopeful look. "Well howdy there. I hate to bother you, but I have a request. As you can tell, I'm not as spry as I used to be..."

 _No kidding_ , I thought to myself, withholding a chuckle.

"As such I can't make my journey to Vibrant Meadow and plant my seeds." At this he pulled out four pink seeds the size of thumbnails. "These are Fylos Peach Tree seeds. They can only be grown in the center of Vibrant Meadow. I rely on the peaches for my income, so please, go to Vibrant Meadow, plant these seeds, and bring me the peaches that grow from them."

When he finished a quest screen popped up in front of me labeled 'Retrieve Fylos Peaches'. I hit 'accept' and the screen dissolved. The NPC's face broke into a large grateful smile.

"I cannot express how grateful I am," he said, virtual tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "I'll have a reward ready for you upon your return. Here are the seeds." The seeds disappeared from his hand and appeared in my inventory. "I wish you good luck."

With his piece said, the NPC turned back to the bar, his expression once more becoming morose. I turned to Circe and gave her smile.

"That's the big quest?" Circe asked in disbelief. "Getting some fruit?"

"Yes, but that's not the point of our exploit today," I said jocularly. "What I want you to see is an Easter egg."

"An Easter egg," she deadpanned. "You want to drag me through a lethal area to look at a colorful egg?"

"What? No!" I exclaimed. "Not a literal Easter egg. An Easter egg in a game is generally an inside joke placed in a game for the enjoyment of the player. Now that I think about it, it's not an Easter egg so much as a daily event that occurs when this quest is completed at a certain time."

"Oh," she said in comprehension. "Then how long do we have until the event takes place?"

I pulled up my main menu and glanced at the clock at the top right of the screen. "Well it's currently five in the evening and the event starts at six, so one hour."

"Only one hour?! That's barely anytime!"

"We'll be fine." I waved of her concern and made my way towards the door. "Well, come one. We don't have all day."

I heard her give a huff of indignation, before she followed behind me.

-Virtual-

 **Vibrant Meadow, Floor 17**

Vibrant Meadow looked like a cross between a forest and an award winning garden. Instead of trees, Vibrant Meadow possessed overly large flora, each standing about twelve feet tall. The petals of the flowers ranged from yellow to blue to white with pink stripes. Foot high grasses grew from the ground, no visible path in sight. Smaller flowers littered the ground they walked on and in between the flowers.

This area, to me, was by far the most beautiful place in the game. The vibrant colors of the flowers brightened up the lethal area. Even the mobs matched with the color coordination of the meadow.

I heard Circe give a surprised gasp and I smiled lightly.

"This place is beautiful," she said in adoration.

"Yeah," I agreed. "This is by far my favorite red zone so far."

Circe frowned and crossed her arms. "Is this some attempt to make me see the beauty of this game so that I'll be less likely to go out and die."

"Partially," I admitted.

"Well it won't work," she said stubbornly.

"We'll see," I said challengingly. I turned away from her and made my way through the meadow, Circe scurrying after me.

As we trekked through the meadow I couldn't help but glance up at all of the flowers and marvel at their beauty. I glanced behind me and saw that Circe was glancing around with a sense of wonder and amazement on her face. I smiled to myself seeing that, despite herself, she was marveling at the beauty of this place. I honestly questioned why Harrison would create such an area in a game where death is such a common occurrence.

Harrison was honestly a mystery to me. He created a system that was revolutionary in the eyes of modern man and a game that would make him richer than he already was. So why throw it away just to put thousands of people in what is basically a death game? What is his true agenda and why?

I was broken from my thoughts by a low churring noise reached his ears. He froze in place, almost causing Circe to run into me.

"What the he-?!" she spluttered angrily only to stop when she saw me drawing my sword. "W-What's wrong?"

I didn't answer her, completely focused on glaring at the large flowers around us. I squinted my eyes at the petals, trying to find what I was looking for. My eyes snapped towards a blue flower when I saw a slight movement among the petals.

"Look out!" I shouted, pushing Circe to the side. No sooner had I done this a man-sized praying mantis, the same color as the flower that it had once resided in.

" _SCREEEE!_ " the mantis screeched, raising its front legs in a threatening manner.

"It's a giant orchard mantis," I explained. "Like its namesake in the real world, it camouflages itself with the petals of the flower it's on. It waits for its prey to get close before it attacks. In the game the usually travel-"

Four more giant orchard mantises leapt down, one white with pink stripes, another blue, and two yellow ones, and encircled the duo.

"-packs."

"What do we do?" Circe asked fearfully.

"We fight," I said, lunging for one of the yellow mantises, slashing it across its thorax.

The mantis screeched in outrage and swiped at me with one of its claws. I quickly rolled out of the way and parried another strike sent at me. I gave a strong shove, and pushed the mantis back, causing it to stumble. I then dashed forward and slashed rapidly towards the mantis, scoring several hits. With one final screech, the mantis burst into pixels.

I turned to Circe, who was in awe over my quick destruction of a mob, and gave her a challenging smirk coupled with a raised eyebrow.

Circe's nostrils flared in annoyance, what I believed to be her inner competitiveness coming to the surface. Not wanting to be outdone, she gripped her want and pointed it at the lone white and pink.

"Rhezlia Glaciea!" she chanted. An icy blue blast of energy erupted from the tip of her wand and shot towards the mantis. The blast struck the mantis' thorax and before it could even screech, ice began to spread from the point where the spell hit and engulfed the insect.

She turned her head in order to give me her own challenging smirk when the blue mantis charged her and tried to cut her in half. She gave a started cry as the claw cut into her side. Instinctively she raised her want and pointed it at the mantis' head.

"Isvren Gusiles!"

A purple blast of energy shot from her want, slamming into the mantis' head, causing it to stumbled back and fall on its back, screeching in pain. Smoke curled off its head.

Circe placed a hand on her chest to still her rapidly beating her heart. Because of this she was almost blindsided by the first blue mantis. Just as the mantis was about to slash her I dashed to her side and blocked its attack. I then quickly brought my sword up diagonally over my head, a purple light traveling down my blade, and slashed downwards across the mantis' body. It stumbled back and screeched, but my sword skill wasn't done. My body continued with the motion, jumping into the air and spinning my body to match my sword swing. My body twisted in the air and my sword slashed the mantis horizontally across the thorax. I landed on my feet and the skill ended with a powerful thrust of my blade, the sword piercing the creature's exoskeleton and killing it.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"Y-yeah," she responded shakily.

"Good, I'll distract them. You attack them from a distance while their attention is on me." She nodded her head in understanding and I dashed forward towards the remaining mantises, not including the one that was currently frozen.

My blade took on a bright orange sheen as I lashed out with a wide horizontal slash. One of the mantises was slashed across the thorax while the other managed to block the attack. The one that blocked my strike (which was also the mantis that Circe had hit with her spell) retaliated with a strike of its own. As my body had just exited the weapon skill system, I was unable to react to the monster's attack.

I winced slightly as I felt the barbs of the mantis' arm grate against my flesh. These were the times that I was grateful for the game's pain desensitizing system. Without it, I would most likely be crying out in agony. Anyway, I regained control over my body and slashed the attacking mantis across its front.

The mantis reeled back in pain and before it could attack me again a small blast of green energy shot from over my shoulder and slammed into the creature. The spell met its mark and destroyed a big chunk out of the mantis' thorax. It gave a blood-curdling screech of pain as it stumbled back, barely alive. Feeling merciful, I severed the creature's head from its neck, killing it.

The other mantis recovered from my first attack and began to slash and hack at me with a flurry of wild attacks. I dodged and parried the attack with ease, the speed that the mantis was displaying not fazing me. I countered some of its attacks with strikes of my own, leaving a good number of cuts across the monster's body.

I then heard Circe begin to chant. Knowing that this meant that she was preparing another spell, I leapt to the side, giving her a clean line of sight with the mantis.

"Frisa Shulsva!" she shouted, releasing the fireball which barreled straight towards the mantis, catching it off guard. The mantis didn't even get a chance to scream as the flames engulfed its body, immediately killing it.

I turned and was about to compliment her when the sound of cracking ice met my ears. I turned just in time to see the once frozen mantis leaping at him, its wings out and buzzing furiously. Just as it was about to ram into me, I dropped down to a crouch and swiped upward with my sword, creating a deadly arc that cut into the segment that connected the mantis' thorax with its abdomen.

The mantis fell to the ground, giving a screech of pain. Before it could get up, Circe had already begun to cast a spell.

"Tysile Elefrsa!" A small black storm cloud appeared above the prone form of the mantis. As it made to get to its feet, thunder rumbled from the cloud and a bright bolt of lightning shot from the cloud, slamming into the mantis' back. It screeched in pain and exploded into pixels.

I gave a whistle of appreciation at the display. "Impressive. You're pretty strong when you're fighting enemies closer to your level."

"Whatever," she said, attempting to pass off his compliment, though I noticed a light embarrassed blush cross her face. "You still haven't shown me anything that makes life worth living in this game."

"Well, I've still got..." I pulled up my menu and checked the time. "thirty minutes to do so."

"Well, you might want to hurry," she said, walking past me. I could have sworn that I heard a playful edge to her voice, almost as if she was challenging me. She turned her head over her shoulder and gave me an almost arrogant smirk. "Clock's ticking."

With that quick glance she she shot me I saw something that I hadn't seen in her eyes. There was a spark of amusement and excitement there. Small and almost undetectable, but a spark none the less. I smiled to myself as I followed her. I was getting through to her.

-Virtual-

"Damn it DJ!" Circe shouted as she was swung around by a humongous Venus fly trap with six long, thick, spiny vines, one of which was wrapped around her ankle.

"Why are you cursing me?!" I shouted back, dodging its other vines and retaliating with attack of my own.

"Because you said we should go this way!" she shouted back.

"The clearing that we have to go is literally right behind this thing!"

"Well we could have gone around it!"

"First of all, the thing literally just spawned in front of us as we were about to pass. Second of all, we only have five minutes!"

"Then hurry up and save MEEEEE!" As she spoke, the fly trap threw her into the air, right above its jaws. She screamed as she fell towards the creature's open mouth and I could only watch helplessly as it swallowed her whole.

"Ooooh," I winced as Circe was engulfed by the creature.

The thing gave me what could have only been a victorious smirk. Whatever expression that it once had fell off its face when a orange glow appeared in the center of its stalk and began to grow. As the light grew, the stalk of the fly trap began to expand and expand before it exploded, releasing a wave of flames.

The fly trap screeched in agony before bursting into pixels revealing a slightly damaged, and highly annoyed, Circe.

"Never speak of this again," she said, her voice slow and deliberate.

Fearing for my own safety, I immediately changed the subject. "Uh, well we only have a couple minutes before we're out of time."

"Hmph," she grunted walking towards the clearing.

I sighed in relief and walked into the clearing afterwards. Thankfully the clearing was one of the safe zones in this place, meaning mobs couldn't spawn or enter the area. I made my way to the center of the clearing and brought out the seeds. Once the seeds were in my hands I allowed them to spill from my hands.

The seeds hit the ground and almost immediately began to sink into the earth. A couple of minutes passed and nothing happened and Circe was beginning to get impatient.

"Well?" she asked impatiently. "Are just supposed to wait here until-"

A loud rumbling noise cut off Circe's rant as the ground beneath our feet began to shake. The ground where I allowed the seeds to fall began to crack and dark brown wooden branches began to surface. Those branches began to intertwine with one another creating a large thick tree trunk.

In a mere few seconds a twenty foot tree stood in the middle of the clearing with color shifting leaves growing from the branches. Soon multiple golden peaches sprouted from the branches of the tree, each giving off their own golden aura.

"Whoa," Circe commented in awe of the sheer size of the tree. "Is this the Easter egg you were talking about?"

"Nope," I said, opening my menu. "That starts in 3...2...1...now."

Just as I said this the sun hit a certain point in its descent, causing the rays of the sun to hit the tree. As the rays of light hit the tree, the leaves of the tree began to glow. The vibrant, shifting colors of the leaves glowed brightly, creating a color changing aurora that lit up the entire clearing. The golden peaches began glowing miniature suns.

"Wow!" Circe gasped as she took in the colors that came off of the tree. "How'd you learn about this."

"Someone that took this quest in the past happened upon this little light show when they completed the quest." I explained. "I thought that this would be a good quest to get you to see the beauty of this world."

The look of wonder and amazement that had once covered her face was replaced by a frown. "You expect me to change my views because of a simple light show?"

"Well, it's more than just a 'simple light show', but I digress. The point of this was to show you that this world, while deadly and lethal, does have beauty, not only that, but it was also to show that you are strong enough to survive," I said.

She became confused at this. "What do you mean. You did most of the work."

"Not true, you took out your fair share of mobs and even that giant Venus fly trap," I pointed out.

"Even so, what does my strength have to do with anything?"

"Because it seems like such a waste to have someone as strong as yourself basically throw away their family."

"What do you mean by that?!" she asked, her tone defensive and hostile at the same time. "I'm not throwing them away!"

"Yet your about to let yourself die for nothing so that you don't have to fight to see them," I said seriously.

"That's not it," she argued. "It's just-"

"It's just what?" I interrupted. "Your afraid of getting hurt for the sake of fighting for your freedom? Are you scared that you'll die before you see your family? Well, newsflash, everyone in this game feels that!" By the end of my rant I was yelling at her, probably startling her in the process, but I didn't care.

"Have you even bothered to think about how killing yourself will affect your family? There most likely out there waiting by your hospital bed, waiting and praying that you'll eventually wake up. Are you going to let them down by killing yourself?! We're almost a quarter of the way there and you want to throw away all that progress and kill yourself?!"

She remained silent throughout my rant, simply looking down at her feet with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Look," I said lightly. "I'm not trying to make you upset, I just want you to see the consequences of allowing yourself to die. When I see you, I see someone strong, both physically and mentally and it angers me to see you just give up. Even if you don't believe in your own strength and don't want to fight, you don't have to. You could open a shop or do something in a town instead of fighting."

Seeing that she was still silent, I pressed on. "I saw it when we fought those mantises. You don't truly want to die, do you?" Her head shot up so fast I thought she would get whiplash. "Thought so. You're just scared of dying as the rest of us. Deep down you want to live and see your family, you're just lying to yourself to lessen, if not justify, the pain of never seeing your family again."

Circe could only look at me in shock and slight fear. She looked back at the ground, her hair shadowing her face so I couldn't see her face. I began to worry that I had overstepped and quite possibly made things worse until she finally spoke.

"You're right," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She looked up and I saw tears streaming down her face with small, what appeared to be, grateful smile formed on her face. Her eyes, for once, held emotion. A mix of sadness and relief swelling in her eyes.

"You're right," she repeated. "I've haven't been thinking about my family. I've just been trying to convince myself that by dying the pain of not being able to see my family would disappear. Instead of lamenting in my own depression, I should be helping with the boss raids or doing something that will help the completion of this game."

She gained a determined fire in her eyes, as she clenched her fist. "If I want to see my family again, if have to fight for my own freedom." She gave me a thankful smile. "Thank you for helping me see that."

"It was no problem," I said sheepishly. "I just couldn't stand by and watch you pointlessly throw your life away. Sorry if I said some hurtful things."

"No, it's fine. I needed to hear those things," she said. "I can't thank you enough for setting me straight."

"Well it was my pleasure," I said, doing another overly flamboyant bow, causing her to giggle. "It was a pleasure showing you the way of life, Circe."

"Catherine."

"Excuse me?"

"My real name," she clarified. "It's Catherine."

My eyes widened in surprise before I smiled kindly. "Well it was my pleasure to assist you, Catherine."

She smiled, the first real smile that I had seen on her. I had high hopes that she would become strong and be able to see her family again. Things were starting to look up in this virtual world of ours until a soft whistling sound reached my ears.

Before I could do anything a crossbow bolt pierced Catherine's chest, right where her heart was. She gasped out in surprise and pain as the bolt stuck in her. She seemed to fall in slow motion, the world stopping around her as she fell. I reached out and managed to grab her before she hit the ground. I desperately searched through my inventory for a health potion, but before I could her health bar hit zero.

"No, no, no" I said in denial, refusing to believe that she was dying in my arms.

"It's okay," she said weakly, her body taking on a light blue sheen. "You've already done enough for me."

"But-"

"No buts," she interrupted, a weak smile forming on her face. "You've done so much for me, and I can't repay you. All I can say is... thank you."

With that, she burst into thousands of blue pixels, leaving this world and the real one forever.

I could only stare at me hands in disbelief. I fell to my knees, unable to cope with what had just happened. Another one. Another person had died in my arms and I was helpless to save them.

I dark chuckle broke me from my thoughts. I turned towards the voice and saw another player garbed in a dark blue, almost black, hooded cloak that covered everything except his pale mouth which was twisted in a cruel smirk. A crossbow held loosely in their hand and a red cursor hovering above their head.

I blinked at him in confusion, not fully comprehending what they were doing there. That's when it hit me. They had been the one who killed Catherine.

Before I could even get to my feet, the figure gave one last dark laugh before he pulled out a teleportation crystal and disappeared from this place.

A million thoughts ran through my head, from Catherine's death to her murderer. However, there was one thought that stood above the others.

"Why?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Hunting for Answers

 **March 6th, 2023**

 **Strylos City, Floor 13**

The moon hung over Strylos City, casting silver moonlight upon the sleeping city. The city itself seemed to be made entirely out of cobblestone. From the buildings, to the streets, the city stood out like a gray beacon against the green grass that made up the large plains that surrounded the city.

The city was still as everyone by this time were in their beds, a simple relief from the nightmare of SAO. A cool breeze passed through the silent streets of Strylos City, ruffling my hair as I gazed up at the moon.

I sighed wearily and leaned against the cold stone wall of the alley behind the inn, my thoughts in turmoil. The events of Vibrant Meadow played through my mind. I still did not understand why whoever that was killed Circe- I mean Catherine. Attacking me I could understand, but why Catherine.

An image of her dying face suddenly flashed within my mind, her dying smile and her final words playing over and over like a broken record. I jumped when a voice cut through the silence of the night.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Silver Phantom~"

I turned my head and saw a purple-haired girl walking towards me. She wore a white dress shirt, a dark purple tailcoat over that. She wore black slacks upon her legs and shiny black shoes on her feet. She had a playful smirk on her face, mischief alight in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked, the playful look on her face never leaving her visage.

"Darcy," I greeted, schooling my expression. "I see you purchased hair dye sense the last time I've seen you."

"Phantom," she said with a smile. "My, my. I have to say, I was shocked to see that the murderer of SAO had left little old me a message."

I held back a scowl at her offhanded comment and remained silent. I've honestly heard it so many times that I've grown almost immune to it.

"So," Darcy continued, stopping in front of me, her hands on her hips in an expectant manner. "what do you require?"

"Information."

"Obviously." She rolled her eyes. "That's what everyone wants from me, but the question is; what's it worth to you?"

I mentally sighed at Darcy's antics, though I couldn't fault her. Obtaining information on players, dungeons, monsters, and like things was very difficult and sometimes dangerous, but that was in her job description. After all, information procuring information through contacts and her own investigation was her role as the information broker.

I opened my menu and opened up the window that held my money. I set aside a portion and sent it to her through the gifting mechanic. A white menu appeared in front of her, indicating that she had received the money.

She looked over her screen, her eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas. "That should do it," she said gleefully. "So, what do you want to know?"

"I need information on a player," I said bluntly.

"Oh, hunting your victims now are we?" she teased. "I guess we should start calling you the Silver Hunter now. Anyway, finding a player is simple enough with the write information. What do they look like?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted, ignoring the 'Silver Hunter' comment. "All I could see is that they wore a dark blue cloak and had a red cursor."

"Not much to go on," she said, crossing her arms and frowning in thought. "There are a surprising amount of red players out there. Finding one specific one without any specific characteristics will be next to impossible. Anything else?"

I closed my eyes in thought, trying to think anything else that I could remember. "They used a crossbow..." I racked my mind for any other details regarding the player. "I don't know anyth- Hang on, there was something else!"

An piece of the player's clothing that I had not remembered at first popped in my mind.

"He had some kind of crest on his cloak, just above his left shoulder. It was red and shaped like a wolf's head biting a heart."

"A wolf biting a heart," she hummed to herself, opening her menu and accessing her notes, a feature that the info broker possessed. "Hmmm, wolf head, wolf head, wolf head... Oh..."

All playfulness that she once had on her face melted off her visage and was replaced with a grim expression.

"That crest is one of a red guild," she said grimly.

"I suspected as much," I said. "What guild does it belong to?"

"Fenrir's Heart."

I did not recall hearing that name, but then again I didn't know of many red guilds except the big ones like Shrieking Tomb or Cackling Hyena .

"What can you tell me about them?"

"There's not much to tell," she said, going through her notes. "They're a relatively small guild, only six players large last time I checked. They were a yellow guild up until a few months ago until their leader took the life of another player. After that the other members began to kill as well."

"Do you have their player Ids?" I asked.

"I can do you one better." She pressed a few buttons on her menu and six pictures appeared in front of me. "I can give you their faces and any information you need to know about them."

The six pictures that appeared in front of me each held the head shots of one of Fenrir's Heart. One of them had pale skin closed cropped blond hair and cold brown eyes, a sadistic smirk on his face. Another had a bronze war helmet with two ivory horns on the sides covering the upper part of his face. A twisted snarl on his face. The third player was a girl with fair skin and brown hair. Creepily enough, she had red eyes that seemed to bore into my soul, a scowl on her face. The fourth player was another girl with dark skin and dark brown hair braided down her back. Hazel color eyes stared back at me in an arrogant smirk. The fifth player was an obviously tall and well muscled bald man with clear blue eyes and a blond beard. The final player...

"That's him!" I exclaimed, pointing to the last picture. "That's the guy."

"Him, huh...?" Darcy pressed a few more buttons. The other five screens disappeared from view and the sixth screen expanded. "It says his player name is Scaldor."

"Scaldor?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's what my data says," she said with a shrug.

"I see, and where can I find this guild?"

"You're not seriously thinking of going after them, are you?!" At my silence, she closed the window with Scaldor's face and looked me dead in the eye. "That's suicide, you'd be going after six players by yourself! Not just any six players, but ones that have killed before! And if that's not the worst thing, they're all fairly high level! There's no way that you could beat them alone!"

"I didn't ask for your opinion regarding this," I said coldly. "I asked where I could find them."

She recoiled slightly at my tone and I immediately felt guilty for snapping at her like that, but I held firm.

"Look, Darcy. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I need this information."

"What do you intend to do with it?"

"I plan to find Scaldor and ask him something."

She gave a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, like that will work! You do realize that you'd be walking into the middle of their guild. They'd attack you before you even have the chance to ask your question!"

"I am aware of that."

She was silent for a moment. "And you'd still go barging in there?"

"Yes."

"I know you, DJ." My eyes widened at the use of my real name and not one of my monikers. Since I met her, Darcy would never call me my name, preferring to call me something else in an attempt to annoy me. For her to call my DJ meant that she was being serious.

"You wouldn't do something this reckless without some kind of provocation, so what they hell did Scaldor do to you?"

I didn't answer at first. I silently debated whether or not I should tell her about what Scaldor had done to Catherine. An image of her face appeared before me once more and I shook my head to get rid of it.

"Let's just say he wronged me in the worse possible way," I said.

She stared at me for a few minutes almost as if she was trying to read my mind to figure out what Scaldor had done to me. She eventually relented with a soft sigh. "Their guild resides in Craven Forest on floor seventeen."

"Thank you," I said, turning down the alley and beginning to leave.

"Wait!" she called out. I stopped and turned back to face her. Her jaw was set and her brows were furrowed as if she was struggling to say something. She eventually sighed, "I can't in good conscience let you go out and face six unknown enemies. So I'm going to tell you everything I know about the players that make up their guild, free of charge."

A small smile broke out across my face. "Thank you, Darcy."

"Just don't go telling anyone that I gave you information for free," she said abashedly, turning her head away from me in an attempt to hide a small blush that was growing on her face. "and... just be careful." The last part almost a whisper.

"I will," I said kindly, giving her a small grateful smile. My expression then hardened. "Now, what do you've got?"

-Virtual-

 **March 7th 2023**

 **Craven Forest, Floor 17**

"Seriously, what is it with dark guilds and setting up their guilds in dark, creepy forests?" I silently asked myself.

Craven Forest, as you can imagine, was a dark forest area of the coniferous verity. The trees all had dark purple bark and black leaves. The ominous sound of ravens reverberated throughout the entirety of the forest. Natural shadows formed on the forest floor.

I chose to approach the guild at night for dramatic effect because, why not? I was currently hiding in the tree tops that overlooked a small bonfire. Fenrir's Heart was clearly not well off financially as their 'guild' was merely a set of tents and a camp fire. I would feel sorry for them had they not been a red guild.

I continued to observe the group from my perch, going through the information that I had learned from Darcy. I laid eyes on the blond-haired player; Azazel if Darcy's information was credible. He wore a plain steel breast plate and an orange brown shirt under it. He also wore plain brown pants and black combat boots. A long nodachi was strapped to his back. According to Darcy's information, he chose the samurai class meaning he had decent defense and strong attack.

My eyes moved to the next one, the player completely decked out in bronze plate armor. He was called Samson if I remembered correctly. He wielded a large claymore type weapon and a large shield which rested at his side. He was clearly a guardian and, according to the information, the guilds 'meat shield'.

The third person I saw was the red eyed girl, Hex. She was dressed in a black wizard's robe with gold trim. In her hand she held twisted oaken staff with a black crystal embedded in the top. She was part of the sorcerer's class, obviously, meaning that she specialized in long range spells. I also knew that she had a tendency to catch her teammates in her spells.

I also knew from personal experience that each spell she used caused a cool down effect to take her, keeping her from using any spells for a short period of time. This game mechanic was implemented after the beta to keep spell casters from spamming high damage spells, making the game harder for everyone.

My eyes swiveled to the dark skinned girl who called herself Shea. She wore a skintight black turtleneck with a dark yellow qipao-style shirt over it and brown pants. She wore soft toe shoes on her feat and a toxic green knife in her hands. She had chosen the assassin class, meaning that she had very strong attacks and high speed. I had to hope that I was faster.

The bald player, Cole, like my first impression of him, was a lot taller than the other members of the guild. He was also the biggest in terms of muscle mass as his body reminded me of a bodybuilder. He wore a rather loose green shirt, the sleeves fell past his hands, and matching green hakama pants. His weapon of choice was a pair of war claws that he wore on his four arms, the blades hanging about six inches past his hands.

The final player, I clenched my fists at the sight of him, was Scaldor. He wore the same get-up that he wore when he killed Catherine several days ago. I learned that he was a bard, which was strange as they typically stayed back in order to buff their teammates yet he took the initiative and killed someone without any back up.

As I looked at the group I noticed that they all had their guild symbol on their left shoulders. They all looked relatively bored expressions on their faces, the dark skinned girl was actually flipping her knife into the air and catching it. A dangerous thing to do when death was a factor in this game, especially since, according to Darcy, her knife had a bonus poison effect on it.

I ran several battle scenarios in my mind, trying to figure out the best way to deal with the six enemies below me. The obviously had low perception as none of them had noticed me, so I figured that, if I disrupted their fire, I could use the shadows created by the darkness of the night and the natural shadows of the forest to surprise them. The only problem with that was that the assassin girl would be able to hide as well and deal extra sneak attack damage.

I gritted my teeth in frustration as I tried to think of how to go about the battle. I decided that I would have to focus my attention on the assassin girl first before I attacked the rest of the group.

Steeling my resolve, I leaped down the tree, landing softly a few meters away from Fenrir's Heart's campsite and leisurely walked towards their campsite.

"Hey! Who's there?!" Shea shouted as soon I got to the outside perimeter of their campfire's light. This surprised me slightly as I had assumed that none of them had a very high perception skill. That could pose a problem if I didn't go after her first.

"Just a traveling player," I said cheekily, a fake smile on my face.

"What are you doing here?" I had to refrain from growling in anger when I heard Scaldor speak. Just hearing his voice reminded me of his cold laugh echoed as Catherine died in my arms.

"Oh, you know, just exploring, looking for loot and junk." I forced myself to stay calm as I didn't want to alert them to my attentions yet. "I don't want any trouble."

"Well, too bad for you," Azazel said, getting to his feet along with the rest of his guild. "'cause you've found trouble."

"Now, now," I said, forcing nervousness into my voice to further my charade. "Can't we work something out?"

"Yeah, I'm sure we can," Azazel said, the same sadistic smirk that he had in his photo that Darcy showed me appeared on his face. "How does all your col and items sound?"

"That doesn't sound very fair," I said with a frown.

"It sounds fair to me, right guys?" The rest of his group nodded in agreement, each of them smiling sinisterly at me as they fingered their weapons.

"Well then I'm going to have to refuse," I said happily.

They were baffled for a second almost as if they couldn't believe that I was refusing them.

"W-What?! You're refusing us?!" the leader spluttered, his face turning red. "We're red players! We will _kill_ you!"

"You could try~" I challenged.

At this they all burst out in a fit of laughter. "Y-You think you can beat us?!" the monk laughed loudly.

"This guy's hilarious!" Hex laughed.

Azazel wiped away a tear of mirth from his eye. "Oh, that's rich. Look, whoever you are, you may be a yellow player, but you can't hope to defeat _six_ players!"

"Yeah, you've got no hope, loser," Scaldor sneered. I had to force myself not to throttle him there and then.

"Hmmm," I said in mock thought. "Well, how about this..."

"No, how about you give us all you're stuff before things get messy," Sampson threatened, his voice low gravely. He picked up his shield and unsheathed his sword before taking a menacing step in my direction.

"Now hear me out," I said. "I have another proposal for you all. You give me information and I don't make your lives short."

All of them, except Shea, burst out in another round of laughter. The assassin, however, narrowed her eyes at me still shadowed form.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Step into the light!"

I give a low, and slightly sinister chuckle. "As you wish." I stepped forward into the fire light, revealing myself to the guild.

Their eyes widened in horror and the ones that were laughing seemed to choke. I smiled almost evilly. "Let us begin."

Before any of them could react I dashed forward and slashed my sword at their camp fire, destroying the item and blanketing the area in darkness. I activated my tracking skill and I gained what was equivalent to infrared vision. Their six red and yellow forms suddenly appeared before me, all of which looked confused, if that was possible for faceless figures of red. An added bonus to this skill was all footprints around me would light up in a variety of colors depending on how old they were, making hunting a lot easier.

Making out the shape of the guilds assassin, I dashed in her direction and swung my sword. Still startled by the sudden lack of light was unprepared for my attack. She gave a cry of pain as my blade left a gash across her chest.

She stumbled back, but kept her footing. The damage wasn't all that much as I was purposely using skills that didn't do that much so that I wouldn't kill her. She growled and lashed out at me with her dagger, able to see me slightly do to her perception. I parried her first stab, but got nicked across the arm by her knife.

As soon as the blade cut my virtual body I felt a strange, almost aching pain course through my body. I didn't need to check my health bar to know that I had been poisoned. I mentally cursed myself for being careless. Thankfully it was a weaker poison effect so it would only last a few seconds. Even so, I immediately backed away from another one of her slashes and rebutted with one of my own.

Her knife took on a white glow and she lunged at me with a quick thrust. I leapt over her, activating my own skill which coated my blade in a orange light, and sent a quick slash across her back.

By this time I was sure that the other guild members could see the light from our weapons and hear sounds of a fight. I had to finish the fight quickly.

Activating another sword skill I lashed out at her with a flurry of stabs and slashes. She tried to block and parry my attacks with her knife, but I was too fast. In the course of several seconds, her entire body was littered in a series of red slashes. She stood on shaky legs, her health teetering in between yellow and red.

Seeing that she was on her last legs, I lashed at her with my hilt, dropping her into the red and sending her to the ground. She tried to get back up, but her strength left her and she collapsed on the ground.

"Eistrafa!" a chant reached my ears. An orb of light suddenly shot into the sky behind me and illuminated the area.

Seeing as there was now light I deactivated my skill and turned to the remaining five members. They all stared at my with a mixture of anger, shock, and a little fear as I had defeated one of their members in less than three minutes.

I gave them a condescending smirk. "Sooo... are you ready to tell me what I want to know now?"

In response, Sampson gave a guttural battle cry and charged me. His sword took on a red sheen and delivered a powerful downward slash at me. In response I brought up my sword in defense and I had to withhold a wince as the force of the attack almost sent me to my knees.

With a strained grunt I shoved the sword away and delivered a quick strike to the guardian's chest, barely doing any damage. Not missing a beat, he raised his shield arm into the air, the metal taking on a blue glow, and swung it towards me. I tried to block the best I could, but the strength of the attack sent me sliding back several feet.

Just as I stopped sliding I leaned to the side, dodging a glowing crossbow bolt that was aimed for my head. I looked towards Scaldor with a look of pure hatred which he countered with a arrogant smirk. He then began to chant in a melodious tone that did not match his normal voice. A red aura flashed around the still conscious members of Fenrir's Heart before it disappeared.

I cursed as I recognized the effects of an attack buff taking affect. Now all of their attacks, magic or physical based, would become almost twice as strong. I had to be a lot more careful from that point on.

Just as that thought crossed through my head I had to dodge another swing from the guardian. Activating another of my sword skills I spun like a top delivering several slashes across his chest. Coming out of my skill I ducked down to avoid another sword slash and I stabbed at his knees.

He howled in pain and tried to quick me, but I was already moving. I moved to his side and stabbed his side, leaving a large gash across his side. I heard another chant begin and with a glance I saw the that sorcerer beginning to cast a spell.

"Frisa Shulsva!" Immediately recognizing the spell, I dashed to the side just in time to avoid the giant fireball that slammed into the spot I once stood, engulfing the guardian in its flames.

While I avoided taking damage from the flames of the spell, the concussive force it was enough to knock me off my feet forcing me to roll to avoid ending up on my ass. I was shocked to say the least that she would launch such a powerful attack at me while I was so close to her teammate. I looked at her and saw not an ounce of regret in her eyes.

I was broken out of my musings when a loud battle cry rang out. I turned back towards the receding flames to see the guardian, looking a little worse for wear, running out of the flames towards me. He was a tenacious one, I'll give him that.

I moved to the side to dodge Sampson's charge and delivered a slash to his exposed side. With surprising agility, he spun around with a wide slash. The attack caught me off guard and I took a strong slash to my chest.

I gave a sharp cry of pain and leapt back to put some distance between. No sooner had I done this I heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Instinctively, I spun around with my sword just in time to block a claw attack from the monk.

We pushed against each other, both of us trying to gain the upper hand. Normally the player before me would be able to completely crush me in terms of strength, but due to the games mechanics, our strength stats were pretty much on par with one another.

Hearing the sound of loud clunking of heavy armor approaching me, I lessened the force I was exerting against the Cole's claws, catching him off guard and causing him to lose his balance. I let myself to fall onto my back, causing the monk to fall with him. Pushing my feet against his stomach, with a grunt I catapulted the monk into the air and into the guardian, sending them both to the ground.

I leapt to my feet just in time to dodge another crossbow bolt and an arc of electrical energy. I turned my attention to the two long range fighters and charged them. Azazel tried send a strike towards my neck, but I leapt over his swing, spinning as I did so, and slashed him across the shoulder. I landed back on my feet and continued forward.

Scaldor fumbled to load another bolt into his crossbow, but before he could I had already delivered three slashes to his torso. He gave a cry of pain and stumbled, back, falling onto his rear. I then turned towards a surprised Hex, who was still reeling from the cool down for her spells. I dashed towards her, activating a sword skill, and delivered a total of five quick slashes across her body before she could bring up her staff in a form of defense.

Their leader gave a roar of anger and charged me from the side with his nodachi. I raised my own sword in defense, causing a shower of sparks to erupt from our swords. As he pushed against my sword, I moved to the side, causing him to stumbled forward. Activating another sword skill, I spun like a top and delivered three strikes to his back.

As I was about to attack again, a sharp pain shot through my left leg. Looking down I saw a crossbow bolt had pierced my calf. I glared at Scaldor and I was about to attack him when I felt something stab my back. I turned my head and saw that Cole had stabbed me with his war claws.

He smirked sinisterly as he dug his claws further into my back, causing my to cry out in pain. His smirk, however, soon fell from his face as I spun towards him, causing the claws to tear through my back, and slashed him across his chest and neck, doing a massive amount of damage. His health dropped into the red just shy of reaching zero. With a groan, he slumped to the ground.

Despite taking out two of the guild's members, I was in a tough spot. My eyes moved to my own health bar and saw that I was in the yellow. The poison affect had faded, but I had to heal now or I wouldn't survive much longer.

Before I could even think about puling out a health potion, the guardian was charging me again with Azazel beside him. They then flanked me and began to slash and hack at me with a enraged fury. I dodged and blocked sword strike after sword strike sent at me by the two red players. I felt another crossbow bolt pierce the small of my back. My health steadily began decreasing from yellow to red from the sheer amount of blows that I had taken. I had to get out of this.

I leapt into the air, causing the two that were flanking me to hit each other. I landed a few feet from them and quickly pulled out a health potion and downed it. I had to suppress a sigh of relief as my hit points returned to the green.

I heard another chant come from Hex and I had to dive to the side to avoid a black colored blast of archaic energy. The spell soared over my head and impacted against one of the trees behind me. I watched as the tree seemed to become even darker than before and began to shrivel as if all of the water was being drained from its structure. The tree then shattered into blue pixels.

Turning towards her and dashed at her again, but was stopped by the guardian and samurai. As I clashed with them, a husky let melodious voice sung out. I chanced a glance at Scaldor and saw a light green energy shoot towards the downed monk. The light enveloped him for a few seconds before it faded away.

I mentally cursed when I saw the monk's health returned to the yellow. The monk's eyes opened and with a groan, he got back to his feet. He looked around, attempting to figure out what was going on. When he saw me still fighting his two guild mates he glared and charged at us.

For the next five minutes all I knew was dodging, blocking, and parrying as I defended against the three red players. I took a few hits, but I also scored a few of my own. As we fought I truly saw how uncoordinated they were in battle. As they attacked me, they also hit each other, doing as much damage to themselves as they did to me.

I saw a bright flash of orange come from my peripheral vision. Glancing back I saw a large fireball heading right towards us. As I was currently trapped in a deadlock with the other three, I could not move in time.

 **BOOM!**

I was sent tumbling through the air from the force of the spell, my health falling to the low yellow area. I slammed into the ground hard enough to bounce a few inches into the air before collapsing back. I struggled to get back to my feet with a groan I looked at the explosion's epicenter and saw the three players that I was fighting against all laying on the ground. The samurai and the guardian were conscious and in the yellow, but the monk was once more in the red and unconscious.

"Dammit, Hex!" Scaldor shouted at the sorcerer. "I just healed him!"

"He was in my way," she scoffed.

"Grrr," he growled before leveling a crossbow at me as I tried to get up.

I rolled out of the way in order to dodge the bolt and got to my feet. Seeing that the other two were starting to struggle to their feet, I dashed towards them, hoping to take them out before they could do anymore damage, as they did more damage than the other two.

Azazel had just gotten to his feet when I arrived before them. He barely had enough time to block my attack as I swung violently towards him. I pushed back against him, causing him to stumble back, and I slashed him several times across his chest.

He fell to the ground, but his health was still in the yellow. As I was about to attack him again, Sampson had gotten to his feet and attempted to cut me in half with downward strike. I sidestepped the swing and slashed him across the torso before stabbing his shoulder.

He howled in pain, but managed to slam his shield against the side of my head. My vision blurred from the impact, my ears ringing. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and, on pure instinct, I brought up my sword to cushion the blow of his attack. Despite bringing up my sword in defense, I still took some damage and was sent sliding back.

I quickly shook the cobwebs from my head and saw that my health was now low yellow, I quickly brought out another potion. I managed to drink it just before the bronze brute was upon me. He swung his sword in a wide arc, his blade taking on a golden glow. I ducked down to avoid the attack and brought back my sword activating yet another skill and began to stab at him with frightening speed. He managed to block the first two attacks with his shield, but he was helpless against my final strikes.

I watched in satisfaction as his health dropped down to red. He fell forward and landed on one knee, panting heavily. Taking a risk, I smashed the hilt of my blade against the side of his armored head, taking out a few more of his hit points and sending him into unconsciousness.

Azazel got back to his feet just as I knocked out the guardian. Seeing red he unleashed a primal scream and charged me, swinging his sword wildly, completely forgetting about sword skills. I dodged his wild swings and delivered slashes of my own, dealing heavy damage. As his health fell to the red, the leader of Fenrir's Heart collapsed on the ground, groaning , but still conscious.

I then turned to the last two members and charged them. Panicking, Hex tried to cast another fireball spell at me, but I dove forward in a roll, the spell hurdling over me. I rolled to my feet and got to my feet in front of her. Before she could react a delivered a final strike to her, sending her into the red and unconsciousness.

As she fell to the ground, the light spell that she cast was extinguished and the area was once more bathed in darkness.

Activating my tracking skill again, my gaze locked onto Scaldor and I charged him. Scaldor, having not being able to see properly began to fire bolts randomly, all of which missed me. I held my sword up above my head, the blade gaining a green color. As I did this, Scaldor's gaze immediately locked on me as the glow shone through the darkness, but it was too late. My sword came down in a diagonal arc before I brought it back up, swinging it over my head, and swung it down again, leaving an x across his chest.

Scaldor cried out in pain and fell to the ground, still conscious, but in the red. As he fell, his hood fell from his head, revealing gray eyes and short dirty blond hair. He tried to get back to his feet, his arm struggling to hold up his crossbow. Seeing this I kicked it out of his hand and out of his reach.

I panted heavily, the adrenaline that had coursed through my body was slowly working its way out of my system. I pulled out another healing potion and brought my health back to the green once more. Opening my inventory once more, I pulled out kindling and through it into the fire pit and lit it. With the light of the fire illuminating the area once more I turned back to Scaldor, who was backing away in fear.

Taking in a large gulp of air, I walked slowly towards Scaldor, my face becoming a blank mask of apathy. By that the time I stood over him, He looked seconds away from pissing himself from fear.

"P-Please," he begged. "d-don't..."

"Shut up," I snapped, allowing the scowl that I had been holding back to work it's way on my face. I stood over him, the tip of my sword resting against his neck. "Now, like I said before, I have some questions and you're going to answer them. Is that clear?" He nodded quickly, mindful of my sword. "Good, now... why did you kill Catherine?"

"W-Who?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB!" I shouted, causing him to flinch violently. I forcibly calmed myself and spoke again through gritted teeth. "The girl that you killed in Vibrant Meadow."

"H-Her?" he asked in sudden realization.

"Yes, her!" I snapped.

"I-It was part of my initiation!" he cried out in fear.

"Initiation?"

"Y-Yeah. Ever since Azazel killed his first player, he had us all kill in order to stay in the guild." By this point, Scaldor was openly weeping, snot dripping down his nose. "H-He would assign us a random player to kill and we had to... to kill them in a day."

"How does he decide who to go after? Tell me!"

"I don't know! I don't know! I swear!" he bawled.

I sneered at him before flipping my sword and slamming it against his temple, sending him into blissful unconsciousness.

With that done, I turned towards their leader, who was now pushing himself to his feet, using his sword as a crutch. I moved over to him and kicked the sword out from under him, making sure to kick the flat side of his blade. With a surprised yelp, he fell to the ground in a heap.

I kicked him onto his back and placed my sword at his throat, much like I did to Scaldor.

"Are you ready to answer my questions?" I asked.

"Piss off!" Azazel snarled angrily, spitting in my face.

I wiped the spit off my face and glared. "Okay, I am officially out of patience." I pressed my blade lightly into his throat, taking a little more of his health. "You are going to tell me exactly what I want to know and you're going to do it now!"

"Or what?" he sneered. "You'll kill me? Ha! You don't have what it takes!"

"And what makes you so sure?"

"If you were you would have killed us already!"

"Ever think that it's because I need information?" I asked rhetorically.

"You don't have with a takes!" he said, though I could here and an undertone of hesitance in his face. Hearing that, I pressed on.

"You keep saying that, yet you know nothing about me." I leaned in close to his face. "I'm the Silver Phantom, the murderer of SAO. I'm a beta tester who has gotten almost every last-hit bonus on the floor bosses. I'm the one that disbanded Precipice Demon alone. And I'm the one who beat you six alone." He glared at this statement, but said nothing to dispute it. "While I may not be a red player like you, I have dangerous in my own right."

"W-Well what can you do to us if not kill us?" he asked uneasily.

"I could do several things," I said. "I could turn you into the police guild, Herald Shield, leave you in the hands of the players, the ones that have lost friends to red players like yourselves specifically, I could also torture you."

"T-Torture?" he squeaked fearfully.

"Yes, torture," I bluffed convincingly. "I could heal you just to beat you again and again until your mind breaks."

"Y-You wouldn't... You... You don't have-"

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but, again, you know nothing about me. No one would know, especially since I'm already a yellow player." I dropped my voice to a whisper. "I could just flat out kill you, but there are so many things worse than death."

Azazel gulped, his eyes shifting from my sword to my eyes, attempting to tell if I was bluffing or not. Judging by the sheen of sweat that was forming on his brow he believed my bluff.

"O-Okay," he stuttered. "I'll talk."

I gave him a cold smile. "Good, was that so hard. Now onto business. How do you choose who your guild kills for their initiation?"

"I normally just choose a random player for them to go after."

"Normally?" I noted. "As in not always?"

He swallowed nervously, his adams apple bobbing as he did so. "W-We recently got a request from a player to kill a certain player."

"Who was the request for?" I demanded.

"A player named Circe."

 _So that's how Catherine was chosen_ , I reasoned. _But that leaves one question..._ "Who placed the hit out on her?"

He didn't answer right away. His eyes shifted back and forth as if he was looking for an escape route. Losing my patience, I plunged my sword into the ground right next to his head, scaring the ever-living daylights out of him.

"Answer me!" I roared.

"Okay, okay!" he cried out in fear. "It was some guy named Dagur!"

I froze at this. "What did you say?" I asked in a whisper.

"The guy who told me to kill her, his name was Dagur," he said. He then frowned in thought. "I think that he's the leader of Soldier's of the People."

A million thoughts raced through my mind at Azazel's declaration. Dagur put out the hit? Why? What did he have to gain from killing her?

"That's everything I swear, please let me go," Azazel blubbered, bringing me out of my inner turmoil.

I looked at him coldly. "Yeah, I'll let you go, right into the police guild," I said.

"What?!" he shouted. "But-!"

I silenced him by putting my sword back at his throat. "I said that I wouldn't torture or kill you, but the fact remains that you have killed people. So here's what you're going to do: you're going to turn yourself and the rest of your guild to Herald Shield. If you don't I will find you and I will personally make your life a living hell. Got it?"

Azazel clenched his jaw and growled mutinously.

"GOT IT?!"

"Yes, yes, I've got it," he relented fearfully.

"Good," I sneered turning my back on Fenrir's Heart, new thoughts circling my mind. I needed answers and I needed them now!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Floor 25

 **March 8th, 2023**

 **Trillardenn Forest, Floor 25**

"Alright, listen up!" The speaker was Harold, a long sword wielding swashbuckler like myself, the guild leader of Solaris Palm, and current leader of the boss raid. He wore light armor that, while sturdy, allowed free movement. He had red-orange hair, a pale complexion, and green eyes "Take time to rest up, heal, use potions, and whatever you need to do to prepare yourselves for the boss fight. We head out in five!"

Moving away from the group a leaned against one of the large trees that created an archway around the giant, ivy coated double doors that were embedded within a large cliff face. closing my eyes, I reflected on what has occurred.

We had entered the forest a few hours ago after learning the location of the doors behind me. Like the majority of the forests in SAO, Trillardenn Forest was held large trees whose canopies held an abundance of leaves that nearly blocked out the sun, creating patterns of shadows upon the ground.

There were a few large, bipedal insectoids that called the forest home as well as several species of giant birds that had a tendency to dive bomb unsuspecting players. Thankfully, as we had multiple players within our group, we were able to take out the mobs before they could do any real damage.

Opening my eyes I looked over the guilds and assorted players that made up the raid party. From what I could surmise, there were about a hundred or so players partaking in the boss raid. It was a larger group than the other boss raiding parties, not that I was surprised considering that this was the twenty-fifth floor.

I recognized several guilds including Reaper's, The Invisible Blade. He caught my eye and gave me a wave which I returned. I also took note of Uno handing out several potions while advertising his shop. I shook my head, a small grin on my face and looked back over the assembled players.

Many familiar faces of players that I have encountered throughout the game passed by my vision, most of whom held a dislike towards me. Though several others were neutral towards me. As my eyes roamed over the assembled players a flash of raven hair. Narrowing my eyes slightly, I saw Raven conversing with several other players. She wore similar attire to when I first met her only know her clothes and armor were more finely crafted. From what I had heard she had joined a new guild by the name of Stormwind.

It made me happy to see that she had taken my advice and joined a guild. She was a good fighter and would only get better within a guild. Continuing my survey of the the group I had to hold in a guttural growl when I spotted Dagur and his guild.

Dagur was suited in full plate armor with his guild mark on his right shoulder and a large great ax resting on his shoulder. He was currently talking to his guild members in hushed tones, his eyes shifting over his guild members and the rest of the assembled players.

It took every once of will power that I possessed to not go after him when I found out he ordered the hit on Catherine. It's not that I was worried about having to deal with his guild, heck I was pretty sure I could hold them off until I was able to deal with Dagur, but knew deep down that if I went after Dagur then, it would do more harm then good. I needed proof, besides the testimony of several red players, that would support my claims. Without proof, I would be branded even more of a social outcast than I already was.

It frustrated me that I still didn't know Dagur's reasoning for ordering the hit on Catherine. Was it a ploy to get me to attack him or was it part of some other plan? I gave a silent sigh of frustration and lightly banged my head against the tree behind me. I couldn't afford to think of such things now. Now I had to focus on the next boss.

Within this game, as form of... twisted celebration, Kane Harrison made each quarter floor more difficult than the other floors. This meant that the bosses of the twenty-fifth, fiftieth, seventy-fifth, and hundredth floor were considerably stronger than the other bosses. Following this logic, the raid party decided to enlist more players in order to combat the boss on this floor.

Giving another sigh, I looked towards the sky, the sunlight barely breaching the dense foliage of the forest. This game truly was hell.

"You okay?" Slightly startled, I looked back down and saw Raven standing in front of me, her eyes holding a look of grim concern.

"Huh?" I said dumbly.

She rolled her eyes. "I asked if you were okay."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She didn't look convinced judging by her raised eyebrow.

"Uh huh." She looked at me with a disbelieving eye.

I gave a small sigh. "Fine. I was just thinking."

"About the floor boss?"

"Yeah." It wasn't technically a lie, as I was thinking about it... partially.

"You once told me that you shouldn't be afraid of being afraid, but if you let it consume you then you'll make mistakes. Use that feeling that you're feeling to make yourself stronger." I gave small smirk at this.

"Funny, I didn't take you for such a deep person."

"Oh, shut up you!" she said without any real bite to her voice.

I laughed at that, despite of myself, drawing the attention of several players around us. Many of them scoffed when they saw me while others openly glared.

"Hey, Raven!" one of the player's called out. "Why the hell are you talking to him? People will think that you're sympathizing with that damn murderer!"

She turns and glares at the player that had spoke. "He's no more a murder than you are in case you couldn't tell by his icon." The player looked like he wanted to say something else, but Raven continued. "And another thing! Who I talk to isn't any of your concern or anyone else's for that matter. He's here to help us so keep you biased bullshit to yourselves!"

The player looked like Raven had physically slapped him. With an affronted huff turned away from her, his nose turned to the air.

"You didn't have to do that," I said to Raven.

"No, but I wanted to," she said, blowing a strand of hair from her face. "You don't deserve all the ridicule and scorn that you face. Especially since you kept everyone from persecuting the beta testers "

"So you figured it out?" I said rhetorically.

"It didn't take a genius," she scoffed. "Especially since your personality did a complete one eighty. I know why you did it, but I still don't agree with it."

"Someone had to bare the burden," I said, looking off in the distance.

"I know that, but it's unfair."

"Life's unfair, as we all know," I said, gesturing to all around us.

"Hmph. Yeah..."

"All right you lot!" Harold shouted, gaining our attention. "Your five minutes are up! Let's head out!"

-Virtual-

 **Boss Room, Floor 25**

Entering the room, they saw that, unlike the normal boss room which is typically made out of stone, the doors in the cliff face acted as a dividing wall that separated the forest from a clearing. The clearing was a large circular clearing with trees, probably around thirty feet tall, forming a semi-circle on the other side of the room. The trees bent towards the center slightly, creating a ray of sunlight that created ominous shadows that stretched all over the forest floor.

We moved slowly and cautiously, looking all over the room for any sign of the boss. As soon as the last player entered the large doors slammed shut with a loud bang, startling some of the players. All of a sudden we heard loud thumps, like a person's footfalls. The thumps grew louder and louder to the point where the ground actually shook with each thump. As the thumps grew louder and closer, the trees began to shiver and fall as something large began to push them to the side.

"Get ready!" Harold shouted as everyone grabbed their weapons and prepared themselves.

"It would be a shame if a certain beta tester died in this fight." I turned and saw Dagur grinning sadistically.

"I'll be fine as long as you don't hire someone to kill me," I retorted, relishing in the look of surprise and horror that flashed across Dagur's face.

"Wh-wha... H-How did you-?"

"It's hear!" The shout of a random player broke Dagur's rant. With a final glare directed towards me he looked towards the tree and paled.

Wondering what could cause such a reaction I turned towards the treeline and was greeted by the horrible visage of the boss.

It was still a ways away from the clearing itself, but its head towered over the trees by about ten feet. It head was completely covered in moss green fur and two horns that resembled tree branches. A mask encompassed the entirety of the creatures face, made of what appeared to be made of ivory. The mask was shaped like a 'T' with the bottom of it shaped like the upper portion of a jaw and two eye holes on either side of the mask. Two glowing yellow dots shined behind the black eye holes of the mask.

The creature continued forward, ripping the trees in front it from the earth. When the creature finally broke through the tree line, we saw that its entire body was covered with the same molted green fur that covered its head. The only part of its body that was not covered in fur were its large feet and hands that brushed against the ground. Its skin reminded me of old leather that had wrinkles like an armchair. Looking at more of the creature, I noted several large gray mushrooms growing from its shoulders that seemed to be undulating.

The creature looked down at all of us, its yellow eyes holding no emotion. Then a large maw opened up from under the mask revealing a large maw with rows of razor sharp teeth. A large, echoing roar burst from the creature echoing through the clearing and the surrounding forest. The sheer force behind the roar, causing us to cover our ears the best we could.

When the creature's roar finally ended, it closed its mouth and eyed us impassively. Unsure of what the creature was doing, they were surprised by the sound of reciprocating howls, much softer than the large creature in front of them, but still loud. Sounds of crashing came from around the outside of the forest. Turning away from the large creature, we saw eight smaller creatures, probably about six feet or so, that looked exactly like the humongous creature before them.

With its allies entering the clearing, the two large dots that were the creatures eyes folded into upside down crescents, indicating that it was glaring at us. It released another roar that shook the clearing. As it did this six health bars appeared at the side of the creature's head as well as a name tag that read _The Wakua Beast_.

The Wakua Beast then raised its long arm and swung down at us. The majority of us were able to leap out of the way of the giant beast's swipe, but several players were caught by the attack. The players were sent flying through the air like rag dolls, several of them slamming into the doors and bouncing off. Looking at their health, I was surprised and horrified to see that almost half of the player's health was gone with one strike.

At this point, the smaller creatures all gave shouts and howls of what could only be excitement and charged at us. This was enough to snap us out of our state of shock.

"Attack!" Jasper shouted. With a defiant shout, we clashed against the smaller creatures, determined to get through this boss floor.

-Virtual-

We clashed against the miniature Wakua Beasts, slashing and hacking against their thick hide and dodging the claw swipes. The creatures themselves were fairly strong and had quite a bit of health and defense, but they were also very slow, making it easy to avoid their attacks. And if fighting these creatures wasn't hard enough, once you defeated one another would leap out of the surrounding forest and take its place.

Like its smaller counterparts, the actual Wakua Beast hit very hard and was able to to take a lot of attacks before its health went down significantly, but its attacks were extremely slow. Unfortunately, some of its attacks did hit, and players were sent flying, most of their health disappearing from one hit. Thankfully our healers were able to get to them in time, but they were running out of spells.

So far, our system of close range fighters pushing forward against the boss and its potential allies with the spell casters and healers in the back. To be perfectly honest, it was a good setup, but unfortunately, it put all of the weaker players (In terms of defensive ability) in one spot.

Several minutes into the battle, with two of the creature's health bars finally depleted, the creature's yellow eyes narrowed at the group of assembled magic users. It raised its arm, his eyes never leaving the group and swung towards them.

"Watch out!" a player who saw where the boss was aiming shouted, but it came too late.

The assembled magic users saw a large shadow cover them in the shape of a large hand and looked up. The group could only release a collective shout of surprise before the hand slammed onto them.

With a mighty **boom** , the creature's hand slammed into the epicenter of the assembled magic users with only a few of them able to avoid the creature's giant hand. The creature then raised his hand its hand from the ground, several of the players sticking to its hand before they fell back to the ground. The health of those hit by the boss's attack slowly depleted leaving the majority of the healers fell into the red while three of them went straight to zero.

There were three bursts of blue pixels as the player died, stunning the assembled spell casters who were completely caught off guard by the boss's sudden attack towards them. Seeing the injured players, some of the smaller creatures swarmed past the players they were currently engaged with and moved towards the magic users.

Seeing this I shouted, "Move!" and ran to assist them. Just as one of the monsters was baring down on one of them, I leapt in between them and blocked the monster's attack. "Run!" I shouted as I struggled against the opposing monster. The spell caster directly behind me gave a yelp of fear before scrambling to their feet and running away.

Turning my attention back to the creature in front of me, I gave a grunt and pushed it back. Taking advantage of its weakened stance, I stabbed the creature through the stomach and took its final few hit points, causing it to explode in a burst of pixels.

Chancing a glance behind me I saw the spell casters attempting to heal themselves with potions and spells. Some of them pulled out teleport crystals in hopes to escape this place, but something seemed off. Looks of horror were plastered upon their faces as they stared at the crystals in their hands in shocked desperation, some of them actually shaking the crystals. That was when I made a horrible discovery.

"The teleport crystals don't work in here," I muttered to myself, before having to dodge another mob's attack.

Pushing this thought from my mind, I refocused on the enemy in front of me. Pouncing at the creature in front of me, my blade began to glow with the energy of one of my sword skill. After delivering a diagonal slash down the creature's torso, a pulled back my sword and swung my arm around, slashing the creature across the neck with my sword. The creature gave a chocked roar before it burst into pixels.

Panting slightly from exertion I hefted my sword, glaring at the approaching the mobs. The closet creature gave a roar before leaping into the air and bringing down both of its clawed hands down at my head.

Quickly jumping back, the creature's claws pierced the earth where I once stood. Dashing forward, my sword arm bent at the elbow and my sword parallel with the ground, ready to stab the creature through its heart. My blade pierced through the creature's hide and jutted through the creature's back. For a second, I forgot that such an attack wouldn't necessarily kill an enemy, it would only damage the enemy to an extent. In that second, with my sword still in its chest, the creature reared back its arms and clawed my chest.

Withholding a cry of pain, I did not relinquish my hold on my sword. Activating another sword skill, my sword glowed red and strength coursed through my arm. In a burst of strength and power that I did not normally possess, I lifted my sword straight through the creature, leaving a long red gash that went from the creature's chest to its shoulder. The creature gave out a roar of pain before I silenced it by slashing down with my sword, shattering its body into pixels.

Turning to look back towards the magic users to see how they were doing, I was greeted by the creepy face of one of the smaller Wakua Beasts. To my credit, I didn't scream like a small child like most people would when startled like that, though I admit that I did jump back in fright over sudden appearance. The creature took advantage of my surprise and attempted to strike me, but was stopped by a sword cleaving through its head, severing it from its body.

As the creature's head fell to the ground and shattered out of existence along with its body, Raven could be seen standing there, her blade still held in a slashing movement. She gives me a cheeky grin and brings her sword to her side.

"Thanks," I said, calming my rapidly beating heart.

"No problem," she said. "Some battle, huh?"

"Heh, yeah." We stood in silence for a moment. "Back to the fight?"

"Back to the fight," she said in agreement, both of us charging the remaining mobs.

For what felt like an days, all I knew was slash, hack, dodge, repeat. Staying close to the spell casters to keep them from sustaining more damage as they were still healing themselves from the bosses attack, I continued to fight. Glancing towards the sky I saw that the sun was beginning to crest behind the trees, indicating that it was now probably early evening. At one point, when we brought the boss down to three health bars, the boss released another earth-shaking roar that summoned six more of the smaller creatures, making twelve in total. Like the six before them, when one died another took its place.

As time moved on, the endless mobs and the boss itself managed to take out, by my count, ten more of us. However, I didn't let their deaths distract me as this could leave me open to attack. I had already gone through three of my five potions and I did not want to use my final two unless it was absolutely necessary.

Startled from my 'battle mode' as I have come to call it, I, and the rest of the remaining players, heard and blood-curdling screech come from the beast. Glancing up I saw that it was on its final health bar and its health was in the red. The creature glared at us with pure apathy as its yellow pools bled crimson. With startling speed, the creature's hands shot forward, but not at us.

Two creature's cried out in both fear and reluctance as the boss's much larger hands wrapped around their bodies and lifted them into the air. The Wakua Beast brought one of the creatures towards its face and opened its toothy maw. We watched stunned horror as the boss bit the smaller creature in half, the creature's bottom half then bursting into pixels. It then did the same to the other creature, allowing the lower half to fall halfway to the ground before it too burst into pixels.

We were all stunned, horrified, and confused by this sudden act of cannibalism. It all became clear as to why the creature did this as the Wakua Beast's once red health bar replenished and another health bar appeared and filled as well, leaving the boss with two full health bars.

"No way," a player said in shock.

"That's not... That's not fair," another player said in despair.

Of course it wasn't fair. This was a death game. Nothing was fair about it.

The Wakua Beast gave a roar of triumph and two more smaller beasts burst from the forest, the rest of the creatures nonplussed over the sudden cannibalism of their friends. As the thirteen creatures advanced towards us.

Many of the players began to stumbled back in fear and anguish, feeling hopeless against a creature that could heal itself with an endless supply of 'health'. That added to the fact that we could not escape, many felt like this was going to be a slaughter. The chill of hopelessness too began to creep up upon my own heart.

"St-Stand your ground!" Harold shouted weakly, trying to inspire us. Many players tried to rally and form up, but the fear and dread still clenched at our hearts. This was going to be a hard fought battle.

-Virtual-

My entire body felt like it was filled with lead, my arms screaming in protest as I held up my sword. The virtual sun had fallen and moonlight now lit up the clearing as we continued to fight this practically unkillable boss. In the past, what I could only guess, three hours or so the creature had devoured fourteen of its minions and had taken out over twenty of our party members.

By this point, all of our spell casters were out of healing spells and were running low on other spells, the summons that were created by the summoners were all dead, and we were all running low on healing potions, I, myself, was down to one single potion and my health was in the yellow.

As I fought, I found myself between Aegis and Reaper, fending off another onslaught from the mobs. The boss was currently on its last health bar again, but it would only be a matter of time before it devoured another one of its minions.

"This is getting us nowhere," Reaper growled angrily, slashing through another mini Wakua Beast. "If this keeps up, were all going to die here!"

"Obviously, but what can we do?" Aegis said through gritted teeth, pushing back against one of the mobs and kicking it away.

Racking my brain for ideas of what we could do, I was stumped. The mobs were virtually endless, kill one and another took its place seconds afterwards. Not only that, but the Wakua Beast could just _eat_ its minions and gain health, giving it access to an endless supply. The only way for us to have a chance of killing this thing would be to kill the smaller creatures before the boss could heal...

Then an idea came to me and I felt stupid for not coming up with it earlier.

"I think I've got something." I said, gaining Aegis and Reaper's attention as well as the attention of several of the players around me. "We need to take out all of the creatures right as the boss is about to eat them."

"Well, no duh," Reaper grunted. "And how do you suppose we kill all of them at once? A code word or maybe a flashy signal?"

"Now's not the time for sarcasm," I snapped, glaring at him. "What we need to do is corral them into one location then have the spell casters blast them with long range spells!"

"That could work," Aegis said. "If we can put them all in one spot and destroy them, the boss can't heal!"

"That a pretty big if," Reaper argued, stabbing another creature. "Do you really think that their just going to cooperate and move into one spot?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Reaper didn't answer and Aegis then spoke to one of the random players around him. "Pass the word on: corral the smaller creatures into one place and have the spell casters ready to attack them!"

"R-Right," the player stuttered, moving further within the chaos.

Slowly, but surely, my plan was passed through the rest of the raid party and we began to corral the group of smaller beasts towards the side of the forest, though they didn't make it easy. The creature, almost knowing our plan, they fought with a renewed determination, making it difficult to even get close to them.

As this was happening, others continued to attack the boss in order to keep it focused on them and not on the smaller creatures that we were herding away from it. Looking at the boss's health I saw that its final health bar was slowly approaching the red. We had to finish this soon.

"This is the last one!" Aegis grunted, literally wrestling with one of the creatures. With a loud grunt, he threw the creature into its brethren, knocking them off balance.

No sooner had Aegis done this, the Wakua Beast released a familiar roar. I spun around just in time to see the boss reaching towards the group of smaller beasts.

"NOW!" I roared over the sounds of fighting, hoping against hope that the spell casters heard me. Beginning to think that my shout had gone unheeded, I was relieved to hear the familiar sounds of chanting. "GET DOWN!" I shouted to those around me, diving to the ground to give the spell casters a clear shot.

The players around me me mimicked my action just as multiple spells flew over out heads and into the group of minions. With a loud **boom** , all of the spells connected and created a huge explosion that shook the leaves from the trees. The Wakua Beast pulled back its hand with a growl of protest as the explosion engulfed its 'food'. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing but a scorch mark where the beasts once stood.

The Wakua Beast gave a roar of pure anger, the sound reverberating throughout forest. Once it ended, I heard the tell-tale sounds of more mini beasts coming from the forest to the aid of their master. Glancing around, I saw that everyone was in a state of awed shock and no one was attacking the creature. I leapt to my feet and glared desperately at the boss.

"ATTACK IT NOW! BEFORE IT CAN SUMMON MORE CREATURES!" My shout snapped everyone out of their awed states and set their sights on the creature. With a collective roar, we charged.

Unfortunately, the Wakua Beast refused to go down without a fight. It gave off a roar of its own and began to swipe at us with speed it had not demonstrated beforehand. With its new speed, it caught several players off guard and they were sent flying from the creature's powerful swipes.

Not daring to check to see if they were alright as the creature had just proved it could send us flying with minimal effort continued forward. As soon as I reached the beast's leg I immediately activated a sword skill and began to hack at its legs. Other players soon joined me, attacking any part of the creature that they could. Archers shot arrows towards the creature's head and upper torso, spell casters fired their remaining spells, those with weapons focused on the creature's lower body. It was chaos.

The creature continued to attack us as we swarmed, killing many while sending even more flying. However, despite the creature's best efforts, its health continued to dwindle at a slow pace. Eventually the creature fell to one knee, its health almost gone. With a guttural screech, the Wakua Beast reared back its arm and took a large swipe towards us.

Leaping over the swipe, I, and a few others, managed to avoid the attack, but many players were sent hurtling back. Unperturbed by this, I dashed forward and continued to deal as much damage as I could before more creatures appeared.

Unfortunately, shouts of surprise alerted me to the arrival of more of the boss's minions, meaning the boss could now heal again. This had to end this quickly.

Thinking instinctively, I leapt into the air and activated my original weapon skill. Twisting my body in the air I spun my silver glowing sword as I descended, leaving three X's across the creature's body. Landing on the ground, I felt my body temporarily freeze due to the games skill mechanics. I had expected the creature to burst into pixels, ending this deadly battle, but to my horror the creature remained standing, only a small sliver of health remained.

The boss glared at my paralyzed form with a look that could only be interpreted as pure hatred. It raised its hand into the air and brought it down with the attempt to crush me. Without looking at my own health bar, I knew that if that hit me, I was done for. Trying desperately to move, I found myself still immobilized as the fighting system that allowed players to do amazing feats was still affecting my movements. The creature's hand was only three seconds away from crushing my and I couldn't move.

3... My struggles ceased as I resigned myself to my imminent demise.

2... My eyes closed as I awaited for the and to crush me. My body regained the ability to move, but I knew that I would never be able to dodge out of the way in time.

1... My entire body tensed, waiting for the final blow...

And waited...

And waited...

But it never came.

Opening my eyes, I saw Raven standing in front of me, her small blade sticking into the creature's massive hand, like a splinter. The creature's entire body shuttered and it gave a soft roar (softer than its other roars and screeches) before bursting into pixels.

We had won.

Everyone broke out in shouts and cheers of triumph praising one another for defeating such a powerful boss. Letting out a breath that I wasn't aware that I was holding I fell to one knee, all my strength leaving my body.

"Are you okay?" Looking up, I saw Raven concerned eyes staring at me.

Managing a weak smile I said, "I'm fine." She raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing me. "Seriously, I'm alright," I assured her, getting to my feet. "Yes, I'm beat up, but we all are. Plus, we aren't in any immediate danger so you don't have to worry about me."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Reaper approaching us and slinging an arm over my shoulder.

"Great plan, DJ," he said with a cheesy grin on his face. "I knew it would work!"

"That's not how I recall it," Aegis said as he approached us along with Uno. "If my memory is right, you said thought that it wouldn't work."

"I was just stating the facts," Reaper defended, turning his head away, causing Aegis to chuckle.

As the two of them were arguing, Uno walked over and spoke to Raven. "So what did you get as the final hit bonus?"

"Let me check..." She opened her menu and began to browse through her inventory. "It's five clumps of something called _Eser Moss_."

" _ESER MOSS_?!" Uno shouted in disbelief.

"Y-Yeah..." Raven said uncertainly.

"That's one of the rarest alchemic ingredient in the game! It can be used to create a potion that gets rid of all status problems, fully restore a player's magic, and heal them completely!" Uno was practically salivating at the idea of such an item.

"Really?" Raven asked, a gleam in her eye. "Could you make this potion for me?"

"It would be my honor," he said with an exaggerated bow.

Raven giggled slightly and I chuckled. He really did like alchemy, he was probably a chemist in the real world.

"I see you survived. Such a shame, really."

Just like that, my good mood was dashed. Looking behind me, I saw Dagur and a noticeably fewer amount of his cronies following close behind.

"What do you want, Dagur?" I growled.

"I heard the idea to corral the smaller creatures was yours. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, what of it?" I asked.

"What I want to know is why you waited so long to tell us how to beat the boss!"

"Huh?" Blinking, all I could do was stare at Dagur, completely baffled by what he was trying to do.

"You knew how to beat the boss, yet you let over a fourth of us die to that thing!"

"The hell are you talking about?" Reaper demanded, coming to my side along with Aegis who was glaring harshly at the ax wielder.

"He purposely withheld vital information that could have saved lives!" Dagur shouted, silencing the surrounding conversations. "If you had told us earlier, we wouldn't have lost so many people!"

"I literally came up with the idea as we were fighting," I growled through clenched jaws.

"He should have told us earlier!" Dagur shouted, now addressing the rest of the players who were watching the argument in silence. "He let us go into that fight blind, increasing the amount of deaths that occurred!"

"No one even knew what the boss was!" Raven protested, but she was ignored.

"He's the reason we lost so many!" Dagur continued.

"He said he came up with the idea as we were fighting, and as soon as, he did he told us," Aegis argued. "Instead of persecuting him, you should be thanking him for coming up with an idea that kept us all from dying!"

Aegis' words, like Raven's were disregarded by Dagur who continued to shout to the assembled players.

"This was another plot to murder even more players, allowing him to receive a larger award."

"Now hold on just one minute!" We all turned towards the voice and saw Harold approaching us. "While I admit that I am slightly wary of the beta testers, this young man," he said, gesturing to me. "saved our lives by telling us how to defeat the boss. Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I believe we owe him our deepest gratitude, regardless of when he learned how to defeat the boss!"

"Don't be sucked into his lies!" Dagur shouted. "He's a liar and a murderer who would sooner stab you in the back than watch it!"

"You idiot. He hasn't killed anyone! That's clear by looking at his cursor!" Uno argued.

"He hasn't killed players himself, that is true, but he hasn't done anything to prevent deaths!" Dagur countered. "He purposely leads people into dangerous places so they'll die!"

"News flash; this entire game is a dangerous place!" I shouted, sick of Dagur's attempts to turn everyone against me. Taking the blame for the other beta testers was one thing, but I was not about to just sit their and let this asshole paint me out as a murderer any longer. "And on top of that I'm a _solo_ player. Meaning I don't travel with others, so how do I lead people to their deaths?"

"Oh really?" The devious smirk that formed on Dagur's face immediately put me on edge. "You seem to forget, _murderer_ , you have lead people to their deaths."

My eyes widened in realization. He wouldn't...

"Remember Circe?" He would. "You led her to Vibrant Meadow where she died!"

This caused a fresh round of murmurings. Players were whispering to each other, their eyes firmly planted on me in fear and disgust.

"I know this because I was there!" Dagur shouted, gaining everyone's attention again. "I was there when he led her into a swarm of monsters and left her to die, laughing!"

Every player, besides Reaper, Uno, Aegis, and Raven all gasped in horror over Dagur's story. If they weren't looking at me with fear and hatred before, they sure were now. This raid party was slowly becoming a lynch mob.

"This is the horror that is brought upon us by the beta testers!" Dagur preached, turning his back on me and addressing the rest of the raid party. "If this is what he's capable of, then what are the other beta testers capable of?!"

"He's right!"

"The beta testers need to be stopped before anymore of us die!"

"We have to defend ourselves against the beta testers!"

"We need to get them before they get us!"

"Fret not! I have a solution!" Everyone looked at Dagur like he was a god.

"What do we do?!"

"Tell us, Dagur!"

"It's quite simple, really. We need to hunt down all the remaining beta testers and make sure that they are incapable of doing anything to harm us!" They all began to shout in approval, buying into Dagur's lies. Dagur licked his lips in glee. "All you have to do is support Soldiers of the People and together we can eradicate the evil of the beta testers from this world!"

That lying little bastard! That sorry excuse for a human was still lying to everyone, making himself out to be a hero and me, along with all other beta testers, the villain. What made it even worse was the fact that they were believing him and I couldn't say anything in my defense, as it would immediately be disregarded as the words of a lying beta tester. Ironic considering who this crap was coming from.

At least I knew why he targeted Circe. He was looking for more fuel to add to the fire that he set to burn the other beta testers. Looking towards the four that were beside me and I saw that they all wore grim expressions that were directed at Dagur. At least they don't believe Dagur's lies.

Turning back towards Dagur who was still spouting claims about the 'evil' of beta testers. He had to be stopped and he had to be stopped now, before things got out of hand. The only thing was; I had no idea how to stop him.

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Hey guys! AuraFighter here. I just wanted to apologize for this chapter being out so late. I have final exams next week so my schedule has been hectic. Hopefully once I am done with exams I'll be able to add chapters more frequently. Thank you all for your continued support and feel free to comment and review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Confrontation

 **May 12th, 2023**

 **Wormswood, Floor 33**

I waited patiently within my room in the inn, idly strumming my fingers against my desk. They should be arriving at any moment now.

 **Knock. Knock.**

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. "It's open." Turning towards the door I saw Aegis, Reaper, Raven, Uno enter my room. "Thank you all for coming."

"Might I be so bold as to ask why you've called us here?" Uno said in a false imperious tone. When he saw everyone giving him plain looks he laughed nervously. "Hehehe, just trying to lighten the mood."

"Anyway, why'd you call us here?" Raven asked as she took a seat across from me.

"It's about Dagur." Everyone instantly became solemn at the bastard's name.

"What about that bastard?" Raven growled in anger while the others nodded their heads in agreement.

I was honestly not surprised by their violent reactions. Ever since the twenty-fifth floor and the quarter quell boss, Dagur's been on a warpath. Not only was his guild gaining members, but they were also taking a more violent step towards beta testers and those suspected of being beta testers. Dagur and his guild would randomly grab players off the streets and interrogated them with physical pain or throwing them into monster infested areas without any weapons or items. It was so bad that even if the player wasn't a beta tester, they would confess just to stop Soldiers of the People from hurting them any further. What's worse is that when he finds a beta tester-or one that he believes to be a beta tester-he would force them to hand over their items and locks them up in the prison that was created for red players.

"He needs to be stopped."

"Obviously," Raven said with a roll of her eyes. "That goes without saying."

"Considering that you called us here, I take it you have an idea of what we can do?" Aegis questioned.

"Maybe, but first I have to tell you something about him."

"You're not going to tell us your his brother, are you?" Reaper asked humorously.

"No, thankfully no. But I do know what he is."

"What do you mean by that?" Raven asked.

"He's a beta tester." At those three words, the four in front of me were instantly whipped into a frenzy.

"HE'S A WHAT?!" Reaper shouted.

"HOW THAT HELL CAN HE BE A BETA TESTER?!" Uno demanded.

"THAT HYPNOCRITE!" Raven raged. "HE'S BASICALLY THROWING HIS KIND TO THE WOLVES!"

Man am I grateful for soundproof walls.

"Now, hold on a minute." Aegis interrupted everyone's rant. "While I trust you, how can you be sure that Dagur is a beta tester?"

"I've known since the first floor boss," I admitted.

"You've known for that long and you haven't told anyone?!" Raven asked angrily.

"Who would've believed me?" I questioned. Upon receiving no answers I nodded. "Exactly."

"So how do you know he's a beta tester?" Uno asked.

"It was when he accused me of being a beta tester," I began. "He knew about the Last Hit Bonus, something that no one except a beta tester would have known at the time."

"But couldn't he have just asked the Info Broker for that information?" Reaper asked.

"Yes he could have, but when I asked her if he had asked her about that, but she said no."

"You know the Info Broker?" Uno asked in intrigue. "Who is she?"

"Let's stay on track here," Aegis said, cutting of Uno's questioning.

The alchemic expert scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "Hehe. Sorry."

"Anyway, even if he didn't get info about the Last Hit Bonus from the Info Broker, that doesn't mean that he's a beta tester," Aegis argued.

"I know that, but it makes the most since. His anger to the beta testers, him cleaning out the stores for the best items, it all makes since! He's trying to become the strongest player in the game and he's getting rid of the beta testers because they pose as a threat towards his goal!"

"This sounds a lot like a conspiracy theory," Raven grumbled, unconvinced.

"Though his points _do_ have merit," Unto pointed out. "It would explain a lot of Dagur's actions and motives."

"Yeah, but him being a narcissistic prick also explains that," Raven countered.

"But if we are able to convince players that he is a beta tester, everything Dagur has said will be questioned," Reaper added. "His empire would fall apart!"

"Regardless, it will be practically impossible to convince players that Dagur is a beta tester," Aegis said thoughtfully.

"True, but even to smallest amount of doubt can cause an empire to crumble," I said. "Though if my idea works then everyone will know that he's a beta tester."

"And if he's not a beta tester?" Raven asked.

"Then nothing happens except for Dagur being knocked down a few pegs."

"Well what is this _amazing_ plan of yours?" Uno inquired.

"All will be explained when our final guest arrives." No sooner had I said that, a knock came from the door. "And there she is now."

"She?" Raven questioned, turning to face the door along with the others

The door opened to reveal a familiar purple-haired player. Darcy sauntered into the room, her teasing smile going full blast.

"Well isn't this a quaint little get together," she said. "Well? Aren't you going to introduce me, Phantom?"

I sigh at the accursed title, but I introduce everyone. "Darcy, these are Uno, Reaper, Aegis, and Raven. Guys, this is Darcy, the Info Broker."

" _She's_ the Info Broker?!" Uno asked in bewilderment.

"That is correct my good potioneer," she said with a wink.

"How'd you know I was a potioneer?"

"Uno, she _is_ the Info Broker," I said.

"Oh, right," he said sheepishly.

"So, why have you called me here, my dear Phantom?" Darcy asked.

"I need help with taking down Dagur."

"Oooo. It's about time someone takes that scoundrel," she says, her smile shifting to a slight vindictive one. "I'll even help you free of charge, though I don't know what I can do."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure that you can help," I chuckle almost evilly.

"Well that's slightly disconcerting," Uno commented.

My only response was a cryptic smirk which most likely didn't reassure anyone. "Darcy, what are the weapon skills available to ax wielders?"

-Virtual-

 **May 14th, 2023**

 **Blackgate, Floor 36**

It had taken us two days to completely organize my plan as well as map out Dagur's movements. Despite Dagur being such an avid 'preacher' he rarely ever left the safety of his guild hall except for quests and boss battles. Thankfully we received a tip from our friendly neighborhood Info Broker that Dagur was planning a speech at Blackgate. It was time to put our plan into action.

" _He's on his way!_ " Reaper informed me over the calling feature in the main menu.

"Got it," I responded, getting up from my seat in the end and walking in the direction of the square.

Blackgate was designed as a stereotypical RPG town with concrete streets and tree and other flora scattered throughout the town. The building were made out of brick and wood with stalls selling various wares scattered in between the buildings.

Just as Reaper said, Dagur along with several of his guild members and multiple other players were congregating in the center of the square. By the way it looked he was about to 'preach'.

"My fellow players! Hear my words!" Yep, he was preaching. "Our efforts to apprehend the menaces known as beta testers has finally begun to bare fruit!"

There were many cheers from the 'sheeple' as I've begun to call them. You know, a clever play on of words of sheep and people. Eh? ...Yeah, I'm not very funny. Anyway, I was slightly sickened at the cruelty of the players, willingly persecuting those who had done no harm to any of them. It made me long for all of the rules and regulations of the real world. Oh the wonders of peer-presure.

"With your contributions to Soldier's of the People, we have apprehended over twenty beta testers!" A scowl crossed my face as the assembled group cheered loudly. How could they go along with this?! "It is only a matter before we capture all of them an then we can truly be safe. However, to do this we need more support. Our guild is only so powerful, and to completely eradicate the threat of the beta testers we need better items, weapons, armor, everything!"

I couldn't listen to his shit anymore.

"Bullshit!" My shout rang out over the square, silencing everyone. Even from where I was I could see Dagur's beady eyes narrow in anger.

"What are you doing here, murderer?" Dagur growled. "Can't you see that you and your kind isn't wanted here?"

Wow, that sounded incredibly racist. "Sorry, but I'm sick and tired of you telling all these lies to everyone. You've hurt enough people as is and I refuse to let it continue."

"I haven't hurt anyone, unlike you," Dagur sneered. "As you can see, my icon is still green while yours is yellow meaning that you've hurt others!"

"Yet you still see fit to call me a murderer despite that fact," I pointed out, causing him to flush in either anger or embarrassment. "Regardless, you have hurt people. The supposed beta testers that you and your cronies have incarcerated under false pretenses!"

"Beta testers?" The bastard actually had the gall to laugh. "They've killed more than thirty percent of the players that logged into SAO!

"Actually," We all turned to our left and saw Aegis and Raven walking towards the crowd. Right on time. "the majority of the deaths that have occurred are because of mobs and bosses. Only a small percentage of those that have died were killed by players." Dagur opened his mouth to most likely dispute Aegis' claims, but he was on a roll. "I would also like to point out that more than half of the _beta testers_ you killed were green players with only a couple of yellow or red players."

Whispers erupted from the crowd at my last remark. They began to look between Aegis and Dagur, apparently trying decide if he was telling the truth or not. That was good, the people were beginning to doubt Dagur. Now to add more fuel to the fire, so to speak.

"Not only that, but you had little to no proof that those that you found guilty of being beta testers were even beta testers!" I added, causing even more of an uproar.

"Do not be swayed by the lies of a beta tester, and a murderer at that!" Dagur shouted, attempting to reign in the chaos. "The ones that we have captured, while currently red players, were all threats to us average players!"

"Average player? You're anything but average! Just look at yourself!" Raven accused, gesturing towards Dagur for emphasis, causing the assembled crowd to look at the ax user. He was currently decked out in high grade plate armor and a large finely crafted orange and red great ax, which I recognized as Vulcan's Ax-a great ax that also does fire damage to whatever it hits, both of which were hard to come by at this point in the game. "You've got better gear than you entire guild and most players in the game!"

"If you're truly fighting for the people then why do you have the best gear in your guild, the actual players that are out in the field fighting?" Reaper, who had just arrived along with Uno, added.

At this many of Dagur's guildmates began to shit anxiously. It was clear that they were wondering the same thing. It appeared that not everything was pleasant in paradise.

"Not only that, but you've started shaking down player owned stores in order to get items for free!" Uno added. "For a group that exists for the betterment of players you sure do a lot of harm yourselves!"

"And what are you implying?" on of Dagur's cronies asked in a threatening manner.

"I'm not implying anything. I'm just stating facts," Uno said, not at all intimidated.

"How is _he_ helping anyone?" I asked. "All he does is hoard the best items for himself and send out his goons to harass innocent players. Hell, he barely participates in any floor boss fights!" There was a lot of murmuring at this.

"He's got a point."

"He barely does anything for us despite claiming that he fights for us!"

"He _does_ rarely participate in boss fights."

"Is he really imprisoning random players?"

"What gives him the right to demand things from us. We work hard for those items!"

"And why does he get the best items. We're the ones that go out and do things." That one came from one of Dagur's own guildmates.

Dagur's face became redder and redder as he began to lose control of the crowd. However, despite the doubt that was floating threw the crowd, there were still many that believed Dagur was doing good work. Dagur's influence ran deep, but it would soon be uncovered.

"We've had enough of your lies, Dagur!" I called out, gaining everyone's attention. "You claim to fight for the players, yet you are rarely seen fighting. I bet you can't even fight without your 'little friends'."

"Why you little..." I could see the vein on his temple pulse as his rage reached new heights.

"It's time to put you're money where your mouth is. I challenge you to a duel!"

The entire square became silent at my declaration.

"Wh-What?" Dagur asked in shock, his rage currently forgotten.

"You heard me! I challenge you to a duel!" Dagur stammered at my shout, trying to come up with excuses of why he couldn't fight me.

"I can't fight you. I... I have to go back to the guild and... and... plan! Besides, even if I did fight you, you'd just cheat!"

"And how would I do that?" He spluttered in an attempt to come up with a way , but he came up with nothing. "Exactly. Admit it, you're scared to fight me!"

"I'm not scared of you," Dagur sneered, trying and failing to save face.

"Then prove it," I goaded.

"Fine! I'll fight you!" I had to hold back my smirk.

Hook, line, and sinker.

-Virtual-

Dagur stood across from me, the entire square silent as they stared at the two of us. Dagur sneered unappealingly at me, most likely in an attempt to intimidate me-not that it worked. I met his glare with a confident smirk which served to rile him up even more.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to challenge me?" Dagur jeered. "Or are you backing out?"

"No, I'm just giving you the chance to surrender." Dagur's eyes narrowed dangerously at me, causing my grin to grow. I calmly open my menu and issue a challenge to Dagur. The challenge icon appeared in front of the leader of Soldier's of the People. His finger hesitated over the accept button before he steeled his resolve and pressed it. As soon as he pressed the button a timer set for two minutes appeared above our heads.

"Well? Come at me." Dagur didn't need to be told twice as he lunged at me, his a held high. The battle had begun.

Dagur's ax glowed bright orange as he swung the blade at me head in an attempt to cut me in half. However, he was moving way too slow. I easily sidestepped his swing and stabbed him in the side. Thanks to his plate armor my attack did very little. That was one of the benefits of choosing the guardian class. Players were able to where heavy armor and gain the ability to take a lot more hits and do quite a bit of damage, but the trade-off was that they were incredibly slow. On top of that, he was using a great weapon which could not preform combo attacks. It was a fair trade off considering the flat damage they did. That was how weapons worked in this game; the ones that did the least amount of damage had higher combo rates and the ones that did the most damage had lower combo rates.

Growling in anger, Dagur activated another weapon skill. He spun around and attempted to bisect me, but I managed to parry his strike and deliver two of my own. Things continued like this for a while, me dodging/blocking every attack that Dagur threw at me while responding with an attack of my own. He really wasn't a very good fighter. Most guardians would wait for an opponent to attack first then either block or tank the hit. Then while their opponent was stunned, they would then attack with a powerful strike.

"Stop dodging and fight me like a man!" Dagur shouted in anger after missing yet another strike.

Good. He was riled up. Now it was onto phase three of my plan.

"You're boring me," I stated, giving a convincing yawn.

"What was that?" he growled.

"You're boring me," I repeated, giving him a dull look. "You're too predictable." I dodge another ax swing, spinning around him and literally kicking his butt. "You rely completely on weapon skills."

"So what?!" Another weapon skill, another dodge. "Why can't I hit you!"

"Because I know all of your skills."

"What?" Dagur asked, his eyes wide in disbelief and bewilderment.

"I know every ax skill that has been encoded in the game." Multiple gasps echoed through the square at my claim and I couldn't help but think of the reactions of my friends when I asked the Info Broker for the entire list of ax skills.

 **Flashback:**

"You want to know the _entire_ moveset of ax wielders?" Darcy questioned.

"Why on Earth do you want to know that?" Raven asked. "Swashbucklers can't even use axes!"

"I think I see what you're trying to do. You want to fight Dagur, don't you?" Reaper asked.

I couldn't help but smile at Reaper's quick deduction. "That's right."

"But how will fighting Dagur get him to expose himself as a beta tester?" Uno asked. "If you fight him he could either spin the whole thing into a prime example of beta tester cruelty if he loses or a example of his own power if he wins."

"True, but if he uses an original weapon skill..."

"Then you'll have the proof you need to expose him as a beta tester!" Aegis exclaimed in realization.

"Precisely," I said. "And if I manage to goad him into using it in front of people..."

"Then everyone will know he's a beta tester!" Reaper finished. "That's brilliant!"

"I guess that makes sense, but you still have to get him to use the skill," Raven pointed out.

All I did was smirk, amusement glittering clearly in my eyes. "Just leave that to me. I have a tendency to get under people's skin."

 **Flashback end:**

So far, everything had gone according to plan. Now all I had to do was keep pushing him until he used his skill. "Don't you see, Dagur? There's nothing you can do that I can't defend against."

"Shut up!" Dagur roared as he lunged at me with a wild swing. However, he was too enraged to aim properly and I easily ducked under the swing, giving me the chance to deliver a swift stab to his middle.

He tried to smash me into the ground by bring his ax down like a hammer, but I rolled away with ease. In his rage he repeatedly tried to cut me while I was on the ground in a manner that reminded me of a Whack-a-mole game. Thankfully I was able to roll out of the way of his attacks and get to my feet.

"Come on, you can do better than that," I taunted as I continued to dodge his attacks with ease, supplementing attacks of my own every once in a while. "Honestly, one would think that after this long in a game you'd be able to actually use and ax without relying on a weapon skill. How are you a guild leader again?"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" His swings became more wild as he tried desperately to land at least one blow against me, but it was all for naught. If he had invested in actually learning to use his weapons instead of just grabbing the best weapons and armor and hope for the best like some turn based RPG then he would at least stand a chance.

As I ducked under another swing I noted that his health was getting dangerously close to the yellow-the point in which the duel is declared over. Knowing that if I beat him, all of this would have been for nothing, I stopped myself from attacking him despite the various openings I saw in his guard.

"Damn you!" Dagur panted, physically exhausted from swinging his sword like a blindfolded child trying to break open a piñata.

"Like I said, there's nothing you can do that will be able to hit me." I could see his teeth grinding against each other from where I was, his rage almost palpable. He was almost there, he just needed one more push... "A shame really. Even with all the glorified armor and weapons that you've bullied out of people, you still can't use it effectively. It's truly pathetic."

"Don't you dare talk down to me," Dagur growled, his grip on his ax tightening to the point where his knuckles turned white. "No you, you no good beta-"

"No good beta tester. Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before. You should really come up with some better material." Dagur's face turned even uglier than it was previously as it contorted in obvious rage at my dismissal of his insult. Almost there... " Or better yet, don't. You could use that time to actually become a decent player."

"You bastard!" he ran at me again, but like every other time, his attacks did not touch me. Eventually, I chanced another attack, and with a flick of my wrist his health was on the brink between green and yellow.

"Looks like you're about to lose," I commented, drawing his attention to his health bar. His eyes widened when he realized that he was literally a hit away from losing while I was still at full. "Too bad you don't know anything that I don't." I forced a sarcastic condescending tone into my voice, making it seem like I was taunting him. This proved to work as his eyes suddenly glittered with sudden realization and vindictive glee.

"Oh, I've got something alright," he said gleefully, holding his sword aloft. If the deranged look in his eye was anything to go by, he had completely lost it. His ax took on the tell tale silver glow of an original weapon skill, eliciting gasps from the crowd around us, but Dagur didn't seem to notice. Completely oblivious to what was going on around me, Dagur dashed towards me.

I let a smirk stretch across my face as Dagur charged at me, his face frozen in a maniacal grin. He raised his ax over his head and brought it down in a horizontal strike. Seriously? A simple diagonal strike? It must do a hell of a lot of damage. Ignoring that for the moment, I brought up my sword and blocked the strike. However, I was not prepared for Dagur, continuing the momentum, swung his ax down and swung up in an upward diagonal strike. I winced as the blade cut through my torso, I was completely caught off guard. Before I could even react, Dagur swung his ax back down leaving another diagonal slash, parallel to the other. He then swung his ax back around and attempted to behead me. Just as the blade was about to make contact with my neck, I snapped out of my daze and managed to deflect the attack with an upward slash. Dagur stumbled back, the weight of his ax overbalancing him. Using this opportunity, I instinctively dashed forward and delivered a final thrust into Dagur's chest, sending his health into the yellow.

I had won.

Dagur fell onto his rear from a combination of the weight of his ax and my stab. The timer above us faded before another screen appeared above us naming me the winner.

The entire crowd was silent, no jeers towards me cheating, no cries of outrage that the 'murderer' was too powerful. Nothing, just dead silence.

Dagur groaned as he pushed himself to a kneel. He fixed me with a glare of pure loathing before shouting to the assembled crowd. "You see that? He cheated! He knew every move I could do! Don't you all see? This is the threat that beta testers pose!" He turned back towards me and pointed an accusatory finger at me. "When they finally rise up against us, we won't even be able to touch them! This is why we must imprison them, starting with the murderer! All of you, GET HIM!"

Dagur gave me another maniacal grin, most likely presuming that I was about to be captured. When he was met with silence, he turned back to the crowd in confusion. "What are you doing? Get him!" He was met with the horrified looks and hushed murmurs.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I did."

"That was an original weapon skill!"

"But I though only beta testers could use those!"

"Does that mean that he's...?"

Dagur tilted his had in confusion before his eyes widened in sudden realization and horror.

"You're a beta tester? His head snapped back to me and I almost laughed at his expression. "But, you've been telling everyone that beta testers are evil! Why the hell are doing this?!" Despite my questions, my tone held a sarcastic undertone and my eye shone with amusement.

"I bet he's been doing all this so we'd give him the best weapons!" Reaper shouted, playing his role as a angered bystander perfectly.

"He's been lying so that he could keep the best stuff for himself!" Uno added. "I bet he doesn't even care about the rest of us!"

"Yeah, that makes sense!" Raven shouted. "He's just making himself stronger and leaving the rest of us with nothing."

"He must have imprisoned the other beta testers to get them out of his way and get the better weapons for himself," Aegis said.

"Th-That's not true!" Dagur tried to argue, but the crowd was already riled up.

"He's nothing but a filthy beta tester!"

"But if he was lying about being a beta tester, than everything he's said could be a lie!"

"Does that mean that maybe the beta testers aren't really out to get us?"

"No, that can't be true. Can it?"

Dagur tried to regain control over the crowd, but the damage was done. He had outed himself as a beta testers and now everything that he had done, every lie he had told was now falling apart. He turned his head towards me, his eyes full of insanity.

"You!" he growled, pulling his ax to his side. "You planned this didn't you?!"

I raised a questioning eyebrow as if I didn't know what he was talking about, but the amused smirk on my face most likely gave me away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Dagur released a primal roar before thundering towards me, his ax held high. I don't even bother to dodge as the ax swung towards me, only to meet a purple shield which read _No Attacking Players in Safe Zones_. The impact with the purple shield caused Dagur to stumble back and fall on his rear once more, his face almost as purple as the shield as anger danced in his eyes.

"All kill you for exposing, you bastard!" he thundered in rage.

"So it's true then?" Dagur froze at the sudden voice. He turned and saw one of his guildmates-the scrawny one that I encountered in Uno's shop-staring down at him in a mixture of shock and disgust. "You really are a beta tester."

"No, I-" Dagur didn't even get to finish his sentence as the player shouted again.

"You used me! You used all of us!"

"What are you going to do?" Dagur asked fearfully.

"I say we uphold you laws," he said before addressing the crowd. "What do you say folks? How about we get the beta tester?!"

The crowd quickly turned mob as shouts of approval erupted from all around. Dagur gave a particularly unmanly yelp as he jumped to his feet and began to run out of the square.

"GET HIM!" With a roar, the mob gave chase to Dagur, literally running him out of town. Soon the only ones remaining were me, Raven, Reaper, Uno, and Aegis. I turned to them with a satisfied smile.

"Well, I think that went rather well."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

New Alliances

 **June 28th 2023**

 **Revieles Town, Floor 43**

Things had been relatively peaceful -well as peaceful as it could get in a death game- since Dagur was exposed and run out of town. With Dagur exposed and his guild disbanded, the hunting and persecution of beta testers stopped and those that were imprisoned by Dagur were released. There was still tension between beta testers and 'regular players', but it was a lot less confrontational as it had been with Dagur spouting his crap. Some still believed that beta testers were 'the root of all evil' and treated those suspected of being beta testers like dirt. I honestly doubted that everyone would get along in the end, but at least now things were better.

What was a surprise for me was the change in treatment towards me. While a good amount of players still hated my guts, the majority of players treated me civilly, some actually smiling at me. I guess they were grateful that I had exposed Dagur before things escalated. Even so, it was a big jump from receiving glares and sneers to smiles and waves.

"No way! Is that a legendary weapon?!" I stopped my musings when I heard that voice. Turning towards the speaker I saw a group of three players, two of whom were peering at the one in the middle's longsword. The longsword in question had a faint blue hue to it that almost seemed to glow.

"Yep, it's the Mirage Blade," the player with the longsword stated proudly. "Whenever I slash with this baby here it generates several images of my sword, making it hard to dodge or block!"

"That's so cool!" one of the players said. "I'm sooo jealous!"

I turned my attention away from the trio and kept walking. Legendary weapons: a set of weapons ranging from swords to shields that were extremely hard to find. As the name suggests, the weapons were considered extremely powerful, probably some of the most powerful weapons in the entire game. Each weapon either had or gave the wielder an ability that would give the wielder an edge over their enemies. Not only that but each weapon gave the wielder a weapon skill that was impossible to use unless they held the weapon.

I was honestly not sure why Kane put the weapons into the game in he first place, especially with him being the deranged psychopath that gets his jollies from torturing kids in sick and twisted game that- Sorry, I got off track. Anyway, considering that Kane is practically killing us by sticking us in the game I was surprised that he added such powerful weapons into the game. I guess it wouldn't be fun to watch if we just died off too fast.

Sighing audibly, I continued down the paved road. The next floor boss hadn't been found yet and there weren't any good quests available at the time, meaning there was really nothing to do and I was bored out of mind.

"Maybe I could call someone," I contemplated. "At least then I wouldn't be bored."

"Hey are you the Silver Phantom?" I stopped once more and turned around. Standing before me was another player. He was about my height, possibly a little bit shorter, and stocky. He had white skin, not pale, but not dark either, with short brown hair that, and freckles all over his cheeks. He was garbed in black assassin robes with red lining and a hood, which was currently down. He had two knives on either side of his belt, close enough so that he could easily and swiftly draw them.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Good, I need you to come with me."

"Why?" I know I might have sounded rude, but hey; when some random guy walks up to and tells you to come with them, one tends to be suspicious. While he had a green icon, that didn't mean that he wasn't in league with a red guild.

"My guildmaster requested your help," the player said.

"For what?" I pressed.

"You'll find out when we get their." He turned around and began to walk away. He stopped when he realized I wasn't following him and glared in annoyance. "Well? Come on."

With a sigh, I relented and followed him, figuring that if things went bad I could get away. "Can I at least get your name?"

"Maximus," was his simple response.

"Well then, _Maximus_ , might I inquire the name of your esteemed guild." Yes, I was mocking him, but he was being rude, so there.

To my surprise, he actually laughed. "Hehe. And here I was thinking that you didn't have a sense of humor. You're alright, Phantom," he said.

"Call me DJ," I said. "It _is_ my player ID after all."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...What?"

"...Seriously?"

Sometimes I regret using my name as my player ID.

"Anyway, my guild's name is The Order of the Orange Sheep."

"..."

"..."

"Now I don't feel bad about my own name."

"Shut up."

-Virtual-

 **The Order of the Orange Sheep Guild, Floor 28**

Following Maximus to the teleportation circles, I found myself standing in front of a large mansion like guild hall. It looked like an average building -as average as a mansion can be anyway- though there was one odd thing that grabbed my attention. There was a large stained glass window depicting a large orange sheep.

"...The hell?"

"Let's just say our guildmaster is a little eccentric," was all that Maximus said.

"Clearly," I muttered as I followed him inside the building.

The inside of the building looked just as I thought it would; marble floors, large pillars that lead to a grand staircase that spiraledtowards the upper floors, a large crystal chandelier, and... several pictures of orange sheep. Okay, that was different.

"Your guildmaster must really like sheep," I commented.

"Not really, it's sort of a running joke between our guildmaster and a few of us members from before SAO."

"So you guys knew each other before all this?"

"Some of us did, though a lot of other players join once we got enough money to get this guild hall."

"So where is this guildmaster, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Right here, my good man," a rather flamboyant voice rang out from the top of the stairs. Turning towards the sound of the voice I saw a robed individual making his way down the the spiral staircase. His robes -which trailed well past his feet- were royal blue with wings of some black bird decorating the fabric. He held a staff made out of some kind of black wood with a dark purple stone resting at the top of the staff, several twigs branching around the stone. He had a pale complexion with light eyes, a pair of thin-rimmed glasses covering them. A golden crown rested atop his wild brown hair.

"Welcome, to The Order of the Orange Sheep!" the player cried, throwing his arms into the air in a dramatic fashion. "I am ALT's, and I would like to formally welcome you to our humble guild."

"Riiight," I said, not really knowing what to say. "So, why did you call me here?"

"Ah, yes. I'm afraid that we call you here under grim circumstances," he said, his demeanor shifting from joyful and exuberant to grim and solemn.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You see two of our members have gone missing on a quest." ALT's explained. "You may have heard of them, their names are Screech and John."

"Sorry, haven't heard of them. Couldn't you have sent some of your own members to retrieve them?" I asked.

"Yes, well... the thing is, our remaining members would be, how should I put this..., overwhelmed." I narrowed my eyes at the robe wearing player. He was holding something back.

"Where was the quest to?" ALT's became increasingly nervous. He mumbled something, but I couldn't make it out. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said they went to Nightmare Cavern."

" _Nightmare Cavern_?!" I roared. "That is one of the most recently discovered dungeon, and an intensely difficult one at that. No one's completed it before. How could you send them there?!"

"I didn't send them anywhere," ALT's huffed. "They went off on their own. They were also some of our strongest members, which is even more disconcerting."

"And you want me to go an find them?" I could practically feel the encroaching headache.

"Well not alone, of course!" ALT's said, his previous lively attitude coming back full force. "Maximus will be joining you as well as the person who recommended you to us."

"And who would that be?" I asked.

"Me," a new voice said. Turning towards the entrance he was greeted by the sight of yet another player decked out in heavy armor. The armor was pitch black with gold spikes jutting out from random spots. On his back I could see a large broadsword and a large rectangular shield which, like the rest of his armor, had spikes running up and down its surface. A black helm covered his face, leaving only his brown eyes visible.

"And who are you and how do you know me?" I asked.

"What, you don't remember me, DJ? Oh, how you wound me so," he said. He then removed his helmet revealing short dark hair, a pair of glasses, and a familiar tanned face.

"Kent?" I asked in disbelief.

"In the flesh, well, virtual flesh," he joked.

"Holy crap, man! I didn't know you got SAO!" I exclaimed, clasping hands with him, minding the spikes.

"Likewise. I never thought that you'd have bought this game. Imagine my surprise when the Silver Phantom's name was released. Who else would come up with such a simple ID?"

"It's my actual name asshat," I said in annoyance.

"Well it's not very creative. Most players come up with something different."

"Well what's _you're_ player ID then?"

"I'zer."

"... Damn that's a good name."

"Of course it is. I came up with it after all." Kent puffed out his chest as he boasted, causing me to snort in amusement.

"Same old Kent, though I am surprised to see you in such bulky armor. Last time I checked you were as thin as a twig."

"Hey, I'm not that thin. Besides, when I created my character I made my character bulkier than I normally am."

"Ah."

"Ehem." The clearing of a throat brought both of us out of you discussion. Turning back we saw ALT's standing their with an amused expression on his face. "Well, if you're all situated I think you should head out immediately. Our members have been missing for three days and I want them back as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir!" Kent said with a mock salute. He then turned to me and Maximus. "Well, shall we?"

"Ugh, I'm going to regret this," Maximus groaned.

-Virtual-

 **Nightmare Cavern, Floor 43**

The three of us walked through the winding chambers of the cavern. The walls were made of obsidian with torches placed sporadically around the cavern, offering dim light. Stalactites and stalagmites jutted out of the ground almost like a gnarled maw.

Our feet echoed throughout the tunnels as we continued to walk through cavern. We were all on edge because the monsters that spawned here were all incredibly strong. If one were to get the drop on us, then we would be in for a rough time.

"It's way too quiet," Maximus commented. "We've been exploring for the past ten minutes and we haven't run into a single monster."

"Normally I'd say that's a good thing, but this is starting to get unnerving," I agreed.

"We'll just have to keep on our toes so we don't get caught off gua-" Before Kent could finish his sentence, something dropped from the ceiling in front of him. The creature looked to be a cross between a bat and a horseshoe crab. Its body was mainly that of a bat with a hard black shell that ran along its back, leading to a long tail with a barbed stinger. With a deafening screech, the creature shot its tail at Kent in an attempt to impale him.

Both Maximus and I had made movements towards the creature when it landed, but before we could even take a step to assist Kent, he smacked the tail away with his shield and slashed at the creature as if the creature hadn't just dropped down from the ceiling. The creature screeched in pain from Kent's attack before lunging, its teeth bared. This time, Kent didn't even bother moving, simply allowing the beast to bite his shoulder before it reared back in pain, the spikes on his armor stabbing the creature in the mouth. In a flash of green light, Kent swiped at the creature with three quick slashes, causing the creature to stumble back.

"Feel free to jump in at any time," Kent called back to us, snapping us out of our stupor. Maximus and I joined in the fray and in under a minute, the creature was nothing but pixels.

"Well, that happened," Kent commented.

"How'd you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?"

"When the thing fell from the ceiling, you were caught off guard like both of us, but you were able to dodge like you had plenty of time."

"Because I did," he said cryptically.

"It's the ability I'zer got for being the first player to max out their perception skill," Maximus said.

"Hey, you ruined the mystery!" Kent said, sending the knife wielder a mock glare to which Maximus shrugged.

"So you managed to max out your perception skill first?" I questioned.

"Yeah, it's called foresight," Kent sighed. "It makes attacks move slower to me, allowing me time to dodge the attack. The only thing is that if the attack moves faster than me, I can still get hit."

Guardian plus what is practically future sight. That is a mean combination. Being a tank by nature, he could take multiple hits, but with an ability that makes him harder to hit... damn. That's almost unfair.

"That plus his armor and shield makes him a powerful player," Maximus added.

"Huh?"

"My armor and shield is a rare drop called Thorn's Wrath," Kent explained. "When and enemy makes contact with the armor or shield, the spikes do damage to them."

"Wow, that's almost not fair," I said in appreciation.

"Yeah well in a game like this, you gotta do what you've gotta do."

"True," Maximus agreed. "Anyway, let's keep going before more of those things show up."

We continued on our trek through the caverns, this time watching the ceiling as to not get caught off guard again. Thankfully, because of this we weren't caught off guard by more of those creatures. Unfortunately, we were still caught off guard by the ground in front of us suddenly cracking in front of us before five bipedal creatures burst from the ground around us.

The creatures had dark brown fur with long hairless snouts. Their hands and feet were gnarled claws with black talons. They had no visible eyes, but I got the feeling that they could still see us. The creature's growled at us before roaring loud enough to shake the cavern.

"This should be fun," Maximus grumbled, unsheathing his knives in preparation.

"Look on the bright side," Kent said. "We're going to get a ton of EXP by the end of this."

"If we survive."

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine," I said sarcastically.

The creatures became inpatient and charged at once. I ducked over one as it leapt at me and stabbed the other when it got close enough. From the corner of my eye I saw Maximus parrying one of the creature's claws with his knifes while Kent blocked another with his shield. I was then forced to tear my eyes away from them as another creature lunged at me, grazing my side as I was unprepared for it.

Swing my sword towards the offending creature, I managed to nick it across its neck. I continued my attack by slashing the creature several times across its chest. As I continued to attack the creature, I heard the sound of sharp talons scraping across the stone ground rapidly. Instinctively, I moved to the side, causing one of the creatures to crash into the other creature. Before I could pat myself on the back, I had to bring up my sword to block another creature from mauling me. Unfortunately the weight behind the creature's attack sent me to the ground.

Pushing back against the creature with my sword I was barely able to keep the thing from practically eating my face. Thankfully, a low whistling sound cut through the air before a spinning knife slashed the creature across the bag before returning to Maximus . As the creature arced its back in pain I gave a final push, pushing the creature off of me and onto its back. I then got to my feet and jumped on top of the beast, plunging my sword into its chest as I did so.

"Thanks," I said, jumping off the creature as it sat up.

"Just watch your ass from now on," Maximus drawled, stabbing another beast.

Smirking lightly, I dodged another swipe from one of the creatures before slashing it across its face. Noting that another two were running towards me I hastily created an afterimage of myself before circling around the two charging me. The creatures attacked the afterimage and with nothing solid to hit, the creatures crashed into each other. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity, I activated my original sword skill and slashed through the creatures.

They howled in pain from my attack, but stood strong. The glared at me -or they did what I assumed to be glaring- and were about to charge when Kent came out of nowhere and slammed into them with his spiked shield. As they were stumbling back Kent slashed upwards with his sword, decapitating the two creatures.

"Hey, you stole my kills!" I accused.

"Then you should have been quicker than that," Kent smirked.

Noticing one of the creatures stalking towards Kent I dashed towards it, purposely running towards Kent to freak him out. His eyes widened and he raised his shield for protection, but I simply jumped over him and stabbed the creature in the face, destroying it.

Turning towards a still shocked Kent, I smirked. "You've got to be quicker than that."

Kent opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Maximus' voice. "Ladies, you're both pretty now will you please stop flirting with one another and help me?!" he shouted, pushing back against the remaining two monsters.

Kent and I both jumped to Maximus' aid, slashing at the creatures until they were nothing more than bits and pixels. Huffing slightly from exertion, Maximus glared at us.

"About time," he snapped.

"Hey, no need to be so crabby, we helped didn't we?" Kent said jokingly.

"If this wasn't a death game, I'd kill you," Maximus grumbled.

"Let's keep going," I said, staving of the ensuing argument.

-Virtual-

After several hours of constant walking and fighting, we had still not found any trace of the missing players. By this point, we were starting to give up hope. We had already used several healing potions already so we weren't very optimistic regarding their situation.

"They've got to be here somewhere," Kent said, worry edging into his voice.

"They're fine," Maximus assured with certainty. "John and Screech are fully capable of handling themselves."

"Then why haven't they returned?" I asked, not able to stop myself.

He turned and glared at me. "Look _buddy_ , you don't know them like I do. They may not have returned, but their resourceful enough to survive. They're alive and if you think otherwise than you can just leave." My eyes widened at the passion in his voice and I immediately felt guilty.

"I wasn't implying that they were dead," I tried to defend. "I was just... Let's just keep going."

"Hmph." Maximus gave me a final glare before pressing on ahead.

"Don't take it personally. He's just worried about John and Screech," Kent said, placing an reassuring hand on my shoulder. "He's normally not..."

"An ass?" I sighed. "No, he's right. I was being inconsiderate. I shouldn't have spoke like that."

Kent said nothing, probably because there was nothing to say. We continued on, looking for any sign of the two missing players. It wasn't until several minutes later that we caught a break.

"Shh!" Maximus hushed all of a sudden. "I think I hear something."

We listened closely for any sounds besides the sound of monsters. At first we didn't hear anything, but as I was about to say something when we heard the sound of people talking.

"That's them!" Maximus cried happily. "I recognize their voices!"

He ran towards the voices, forcing us to run after him. We came upon a small chamber made of a lighter stone than the rest of the cavern. Inside were two players. One of the players was decked out in silver armor with only his head exposed. He had tanned skin and brown hair styled in a military haircut, a pair of glasses resting on his nose and a claymore at his side. The other player had short black hair and was wearing a white dress shirt with an emerald green vest over it. He had brown slacks which were held up by a black belt with a rapier hanging from it along with reeds. The two players were slumped against the wall in fatigue, red glowing slash marks covering their bodies.

"Guys!" Maximus shouted, alerting the two to our presence. Their eyes widened, but their wasn't relief in their eyes. There was fear.

Maximus moved forward towards them, but stopped with the silver armored one shouted, "No! Get away from here!"

"What are you-?" Before Maximus could finish, the ground in front of him cracked before breaking as something large and burst from the ground. Standing before us was a giant worm like creature. Its body was covered in dark green plates with red ones covering its stomach. It had two arms ending in sickles stretching from its neck. Its head was wider than the rest of its body with a large maw filled with razor sharp teeth.

To are horror, five health bars appeared next to its head along with the name _Ancient Worm_. The worm glared at Maximus with pupiless yellow eyes before lunging at Maximus with one of its arms. Just as the sickle was about to cut him in half, Kent jumped in front of him and blocked the attack with his shield.

"That's what we were trying to tell you guys," the black-haired player said. "That thing trapped us in this safe room. The minute we leave, it comes out an attacks us!"

"Why don't you just teleport out of here?" I asked, dodging a sickle.

"They don't work!" the other one shouted.

It was just like what happened with Sleisha. We wouldn't be able to teleport until the Ancient Worm was defeated. I dodged another attack, and stabbed the creature. My sword pierced through the creature's hide, but to my dismay it didn't do much damage. Before I could fully pull my sword from the creature, it swiped at me, slashing me across the side and sending my crashing to the ground. Thankfully I was able to keep a hold on my sword, but I lost a quarter of my health. Before I could even get to my feet I had roll to the side to avoid getting speared by another sickle.

Fast, powerful, and tough. This thing was a triple threat!

"Keep hitting it!" Kent shouted as he blocked another attack and slashed at the offending arm.

"We're getting nowhere!" Maximus growled, stabbing the creature in the side before jumping away. "We can't beat this thing by ourselves!"

"We need more fighters," I said. "Maximus, do you think you can get to John and Screech and heal them?"

"Yeah, but you'll have to keep this thing off my ass!" he shouted back.

"On it!" Kent said, activating a weapon skill and slashing the worm several times.

The creature screeched in pain before slashing at Kent with both of its arms. Because he had just used a skill, he was defenseless against the creature's attack, sending him flying back.

"Go!" Kent shouted, as he recovered.

The creature swiveled towards Maximus' retreating form and lunged at him. Just as the creature was about to attack him, I jumped in front of it and slashed it across the face before leaping on it. It roared in pain, swinging its head back and forth to shake me off. I lost my balance and began to fall, but as I fell I plunged my sword into the creature's body, creating a long gash in the worm's body as I fell.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I jumped to the side to avoid the creature's tail from crushing me. Glancing past the giant creature I saw Maximus giving his two guildmates healing potions. At least that was going well. Turning back to the giant creature just in time to block another strike.

Between Kent and I, we managed to take down one of its health bars, leaving it with four. Unfortunately, this did not make things any easier. The creature was fast with its attacks and would either block or dodge our attacks.

The creature gave another screech before it lunged at both me and Kent. Both of us raised our weapons to block the creature, but it proved to be unnecessary as in a flash of silver the brown-haired player slammed into the worm with his giant sword. The worm shrieked int pain, its entire body writhing in pain. It turned towards the silver clad guardian and glared, It reared its head back, preparing to strike, but was stopped when Maximus appeared at its side and stabbed it several times.

The sound of music reached our ears, alerting us to the other member of the guild was playing on his reeds. A red aura coated our bodies before fading as quickly as it came. Next to our health bars an image of a tiny sword appeared, indicating that we had temporarily received a boost to our attack power.

"Thanks, John," Kent said, nodding towards the bard.

"What am I, chopped liver?" the other player -who by default had to be Screech- quipped.

"Thanks, Screech," Kent drawled before striking the beast again. "Now lets finish this worm!"

With the three other members of the order now assisting, we began to slowly wane the creature's health. However, despite there now being five of us attacking the worm, it was still hard work. Numbers clearly weren't an issue for the creature as when one of us would get behind the worm it would swipe at them with its tail. Before long we had exhausted our healing potions. Thankfully by then, we had just whittled down its second to last remaining health bar.

Just as the health bar faded, the worm screeched, straightening its body, its head just touching the ceiling. Its scales turned from green to an angry red as tremors racked through its body. It then launched at us, its speed doubled from what it used to be.

Before we could react, it was on us. With a flick of its tail, Maximus, John, and Screech were sent flying back into the wall. It then slashed at Kent who, despite his foresight ability, wasn't fast enough to completely block the attack and was sent skidding back from the force of the attack. The worm then turned its attention towards me and the only thing that saved me from being torn to shreds was a quick afterimage.

As it slammed into my illusion, I lunged at it. Just as I was about to plunge my weapon into its body, it curved its body, causing my sword to pass harmlessly past it. Before I could comprehend what had just happened the creature had slashed me across the chest, sending me to the ground. He beast reared back once more to finish me off, but before it could Kent had jumped in front of me. However, the creature did not hit Kent's shield like he planned. Instead it swung its body around and hit Kent from behind.

By that time, the others had recovered and all charged the Ancient Worm. Just like with my attack, the worm seemed to weave through their attacks with ease, delivering its own strikes. The thing was more than three times faster than it had been. There was no way we would be able to hit it like this.

"This isn't good," Kent groaned, getting to his feet. "Even with my foresight ability, I can't react fast enough!"

"We need to be faster," I mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I have an idea. Do you think you can buy me some time?"

"I don't know what you're planning, but I hope you know what you're doing." With that, Kent ran towards the creature, attempting to do damage to it.

I quickly opened my menu and unequipped my current sword. I then opened my inventory and scrolled through my items. I could hear slashes and shouts from my allies and I knew I had to act fast. As soon as I found the item I slammed the equip button and ran at the creature, not even waiting for the weapon to fully materialize in my hand.

The Ancient Worm had them all against the wall, Kent standing in front of them with his shield raised. All of their health was in the red. Just as the creature raised its arm to finish them off, I put on another burst of speed and got in front of them. I raised my new blade and deflected the sickle away from us before lunging at the creature, delivering two swift slashes across the creature's torso.

"DJ... what?" Kent trailed off, completely caught off guard. "What the hell?"

I looked over my shoulder and gave him a smirk. "What can I say? I'm just full of surprises."

I glanced down at my new sword. It was a single bladed short sword, similar to a wakizashi except slightly wider. The entire blade was a cool silver, not unlike my cloak, with a blue hand guard that traveled from the guard to halfway down the hilt, giving my hand some protection. The guard was stylized like a cloud, swirls wrapping around it giving it a three-dimensional effect. It was the legendary sword Silfarion.

The creature recovered from my attack and lunged at me, its yellow eyes glowing with hate, but before it could hit a moved to the side and slashed the creature across the side. I then raced around the creature, leaving afterimages as I ran to further confuse it, and slashed it repeatedly across the back. With another shriek of pain the worm spun around, its tail destroying my illusions, and slashed at me. I managed to deflect the attack and delivered a slash of my own across its arm.

What ensued was a fight that even I can't really describe. Both of us were blurs, striking, slashing, and stabbing at one another with speeds that could barely be tracked. Thanks to Silfarion, I was able to keep up with the worm's movements. Like the other legendary weapons, Silfarion had a bonus affect to those that wielded it. Silfarion gave me an insane boost to my speed and combo rate allowing me to preform faster combos and move faster than what would normally be possible. With this boost, I was able to keep up with the swift movements the Ancient Worm.

As we continued to fight I noted that both of our health bars were slowly depleting. Despite my speed boost, the beast was still able get past my guard and do damage. At the rate our health bars were falling at the rate they were, I would die before it did. I had to end this.

Just as the creature raised its arm to strike once more, I took my chance. I activated Silfarion's weapon skill. My blade shone with a bright blue light as the skill began to activate. Just as the sickle arm was about to cut me in half, I shot forward, avoiding that attack and getting with the creature's guard. Before the worm could react I raised my arm and slashed at the creature, leaving a long red mark across its body. But I wasn't done yet. I attacked mercilessly, the sword skill guiding my arm, keeping. My feet were firmly planted on the ground and the only part of me that was moving was my sword arm, which was a blur even to me.

Silfarion was no longer a sword, it was a whip that lashed across the monster's body, delivering slash after slash on its body. The creature reared back in pain, unable to strike back as it was trapped within my attack. With a final slash, my skill ended, leaving the creature with a myriad of slash marks across its body.

The giant worm gave a final screech of pain before it burst into pixels. I had won. Glancing at my health bar I realized that I had only just won. My health was just a smidgen away from being completely depleted. I sighed in exhaustion before falling onto my back. That had been too close.

"Holy crap! You beat it!" I turned my head slightly and saw the other four gazing at me in shock.

"Yep," I said, too tired to say anything else.

"How?!" Maximus shouted.

"Legendary weapon," was my simple answer.

"That's a legendary weapon?" Kent asked, indicating to my sword.

"Yeah, its the speed sword Silfarion," I answered.

"I take it that it gives you a speed boost?" Screech questioned.

"Obviously, Screech. How else could he have moved that fast," John snapped.

"Chill, I was just asking a question," Screech defended.

"Before you two start fighting again, could we please get out of here before more mobs show up?" Kent interrupted.

"Yeah, let's," I said, pulling out a teleportation crystal. "I am in no mood to fight another one of those."

-Virtual-

 **The Order of the Orange Sheep Guild, Floor 28**

"I can't thank you enough for returning our guild members to us," ALT's said with his normal flamboyant attitude. "I will make sure that these two hoodlums don't run off by themselves like that again!"

"Hoodlums?" Screech questioned.

"Silence hoodlum!" ALT's shouted dramatically. He then turned back to me. "Anyway, I must insist that you take a reward. I believe that the col and items that these two found when the were exploring Nightmare Cavern should suffice."

"But that's ours!" John protested.

"Silence hoodlum!"

"That's really not necessary," I said sheepishly. "I was just happy to help."

"That is very noble of you," ALT's said with a nod. "If you ever need assistance, you can always call upon the Order of the Orange Sheep."

"Uh... thanks." I began to make my way out of the guild when I heard a voice.

"You know, you don't have to go." Turning I saw Kent leaning against one of the pillars.

"Huh?"

"You don't have to leave," he repeated. "You can join the guild. You don't have to be a solo player."

"Sorry, but if I were to join players wouldn't want to join. Despite the tolerance of beta testers getting better, I'm still seen as an outcast and a murder among some."

"So what, you helped rescue two of our members and saved us from getting killed! No one here would care that you joined!"

"Thanks, but I don't want to cause your guild any problems." I began to walk away again when Kent said something that made me freeze.

"You don't have to punish yourself like this. You don't have to isolate yourself."

"..."

"I can tell, you blame yourself for what happened to Jason on the first floor, but you shouldn't. You can't keep taking all of the hate of the players. Eventually it will consume you and you'll become what you're pretending to be."

"...I'll see you around, Kent." Without another word, I left the guild, refusing to look back at my friend.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Blade of Night

 **May 25th, 2026**

 **Seaside Cave, Floor 43**

I grunted in effort as I parried a sword strike from the battle newt before me. With a great push, I managed to dislodge my sword and cause the creature to stumble back. Not wasting a beat, I slashed at it with my sword, creating a long red gash across its blue skin. With a gurgle, the creature burst into pixels. Unfortunately, I had no time to celebrate.

I quickly rolled across the damp stone floor in order to dodge an attack from another newt. Getting back to my feet and looking towards the newt that attacked me and saw that there were three others, each covered with multiple slashes, advancing towards me.

With an exacerbated sigh I held my sword up in an angle and activated a sword skill. I dashed forward in a blur of silver before leaping in the center of the four monsters. Holding my green glowing sword out I lashed out at the newt in front of me, viciously cutting it across its front a couple times before doing the same to the one next to it.

By the time my sword skill ended I had attacked the four around me several times. The all screeched in pain before shattering into pixels.

I glanced around for any sign of more enemies before sheathing my sword. With a flick of my wrist I opened my menu and checked the items that I acquired. Seven battle newt tails. Just enough for the quest. Perfect.

I scrolled down my menu and selected one of my teleport crystals and teleported out of the cave.

-Virtual-

 **Delior, Floor 46**

It was with a sigh that I entered Delior. Getting out of Seaside Cave hadn't been a problem, but when I entered the town on the forty third floor, I was met with some players that still believed in Dagur's words. They spent a whole twenty minutes ranting at me about how I am the cause of all of the pain that players are going through. Then they had the gall to draw their weapons on me, completely forgetting that we were in the towns safe zone. They then spent five minutes trying -and failing- to kill me.

Eventually I got tired of their attempts and decked one across the face. They thankfully got the picture and scampered off with their tails between their legs. By the time I made it to the floor teleporter and teleported to the forty-sixth floor, I was in no mood to deal with anyone. I just wanted to cash in my mission and avoid everyone.

"DJ!"

Okay, not _everyone_. I turned towards the voice and saw Raven jogging towards me. I raised my hand to wave, but stopped when I saw the slightly panicked look on her face.

"Raven? What's wrong?"

She skidded to a halt in front of me and looked over her shoulder. "You're coming with me on a quest."

What?

"What?"

"You heard me!" she said with a glare. Before I register what was happening, she was pulling me along the road by my hood.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on?!"

"Oh, pipe down," she chided, not even pausing. "We need to get out of here before..."

"Lieutenant Raven."

"Too late," she groaned.

We turned and saw a tall lanky man stalking towards us. His midnight blue cloak fluttered in the virtual wind. Black greasy hair framed his sickly pale face.

"Lieutenant Raven, please desist this childish behavior. It is not safe for you to go alone," he drawled. He held a pompous air to him, as if he everyone was beneath his notice. I had just met him and I was already sick of him.

"I'm not acting childishly!" Raven responded, admittedly in a childish manner. "Besides, I'm not going alone." She pulled me forward slightly. "He's going with me."

Wait, what?

"Him?" he scoffed. "You really trust this...this riffraff with your life?"

Riffraff? Who the hell says riffraff anymore?

"Stop messing around and come with me. _I_ will protect you." He grabbed Raven's arm and began to pull her away. She looked back at me with big pleading eyes, and I felt my will crumbling.

Damn.

I reached out and grabbed the mans wrist, slightly startling him. "Unhand me you commoner!"

Commoner? Where's this guy from? The stone ages?

"Look, whoever you are..."

"My name is Fabian Maximilian, heir to the Maximilian estate," he said haughtily.

"Right...anyway, Fabian" -He glared at me, clearly expecting preferential treatment- "it's clear that she doesn't want to go with you, so why don't you leave her alone?"

"Look, whoever you are" -he mocked- "this is guild business, so kindly butt out."

Oooh, this guy... "Listen, I don't pretend to know the inner workings of a guild, but normally when someone says no, it means no."

His face flushed a little at that comment. "You make it sound as if I want to have my way with her!"

"Don't you?" I asked, raising my voice slightly. "You wish to force her to do something that she clearly does not wish to do. Ergo; you want to have your way with her."

By this point we had drawn a small crowd. All the players around us looked at Fabian with expressions of disapproval and disgust. Fabian's face burned with renewed vigor when he noticed the looks he was getting.

"You really shouldn't act like that around women," I continued mercilessly. "Ignoring their wishes and substituting your own is sexist. This isn't the sixties so you should probably get with the program."

"That's not...I wasn't...GAH!" he shouted in aggravation, letting go of Raven's arm and throwing up his hands up. "Fine! Go with him, but don't blame me when you get yourself killed!"

With that, he stalked away, glaring at the crowd who parted for him.

Ugh," Raven sighed in relief. "That was close. Thanks, DJ."

"No problem. Now what the heck was that about? Why was that guy trying to go with you?"

"That was Fabian, he's a member of The Dusk Knights, my guild. He heard that I planned to go out and insisted that he go with me. He thought he could earn favor with our guildmaster if he helped to 'save my life'." She shivered involuntarily. "The guy's just a creep. Anyway, thanks for helping me out."

She then opened her menu and created and sent me an invitation to join her party. Having no other choice, I clicked 'accept'.

"So what exactly did I agree to help you with?"

She smiled innocently, an act that immediately put me on edge. "Nothing major, just to help me retrieve a legendary weapon from a red zone on floor forty-seven."

So much for cashing in my mission.

-Virtual-

 **Forest of Black Cherry Blossoms, 47th Floor**

"How do I get myself into these messes," I grumbled.

"Oh, quit your bellyaching," Raven huffed, practically pushing me into the midnight blue forest.

"Come on, I want to get the thing before sundown!"

Like the name suggested, the forest was completely comprised of overly large cherry blossom trees that, instead of possessing pink flower petals, had dark blue almost black flowers on their branches. It was strangely beautiful yet creepy at the same time.

"Why am I here again?"

"I told you" -She rolled her eyes in annoyance- "you are going to help me retrieve a rare drop from an enemy of this zone."

"So you expect the two of us to not only clear this zone, but also defeat an enemy in this zone, which will most likely be as strong as a beginning floor boss?"

"Yeah, that's right," she said as if it was the most obvious thing.

I stared at her for a good minute. Great! Just making sure we're on the same page!" I threw up my hands in defeat. "What's the item anyway?"

"According to the info broker, this zone boss will drop a legendary weapon; a ninjato that can only be wielded by someone of the assassin class. It's supposed to be the strongest weapon exclusively available to the assassin class. And now that this zone has been recently unlocked..."

"You want to be able to get the weapon before anyone else does," I finished.

"Exactly. I'm glad you understand."

"Yeah, understand," I grumbled dejectedly. "Let's just get this done."

"Glad to hear that you're finally seeing things my way," she chirped happily before practically skipping into the forest.

"Are you skipping?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course not," she said, her voice sounding offended, though she had a slight blush on her face.

"You are! You're skipping!" I exclaimed.

"Am not!" she denied vehemently.

"You are! You totally-!" I suddenly found the tip of a ninjato at my throat and an enraged ravenette that was holding it. "Right...Shutting up now."

"Smart move," she growled, sheathing her sword. She then smiled as if she hadn't just nearly taken my head off. "Now let's go."

I stared dumbfounded at her retreating back. Her personality had done a complete one eighty! I really don't understand women.

"And you never will!" I started at Raven's voice. Did she just read my mind?!

-Virtual-

Looking back on it, I should have been suspicious that we had hardly encountered any monsters on our trek. That can only mean two things in this kind of game: Either the zone is an easy one -which is highly unlikely considering this is a forty-seventh floor zone- or there is a powerful enemy waiting for an unsuspecting player to stumble upon them.

As we trudged on, I could only look around uneasily. There was a noticeable lack of mobs spawning, and it was worrying. Raven, on the other hand, had a different outlook on the situation.

"Oh, stop worrying, DJ," Raven chided. "So what if we haven't run into that many monsters? That's a good thing. That means that we'll still be fresh for the fight!"

"Look, in my experience-"

"You sound old when you say stuff like that."

"-when you barely encounter any enemies within a zone, there's something particularly nasty up ahead."

"You seriously need to relax," she said, waving off my concerns. "Even if there's some big bad monster at the end of this zone, it's nothing that we can't handle."

"You don't understand, the last time I faced so few enemies in a zone was on New Years when I ran into an enemy that was almost as strong as the first floor boss!"

"And you still beat it by yourself. What's your point?"

"My point is that I barely made it out alive. One more hit and I wouldn't be here right now."

"Well now there's two of us so we have nothing to worry about," she said with such certainty that I almost believed her, but I knew better.

"Raven, you're not listening. We need to be really careful. There's no telling what we'll face if we keep going. It would honestly be safer if we were to go back and..." I trailed off as a whizzing sound reached my ears. I was barely able to move my head out of the way before something whizzed past my face and embedded itself in a tree.

Inspecting the object that had nearly defaced me we saw that it was a four point shuriken that appeared to be made of the same blue petals as were on the trees themselves. We turned towards the trees where he shuriken had come from, and saw four creatures leap down from the treetops. They were dressed like ninjas for lack of better words, though instead of fabric, they were dressed in blue petals. They had swords -which were also made of petals- in their right hands and they were all glaring at us.

"That enough monsters for you?" Raven asked sarcastically, unsheathing her weapon.

"Not what I meant," I hissed, reading my weapon as well. "We still need to be cautious!"

"We can do that after we beat these four!"

She flew at the four monsters, her sword baring down on them, only for the four to leap away. She ran at the nearest one and tried to stab at it, but her attack was deflected by the monster's blade, which somehow was able to go against steel. Raven recovered almost immediately and slashed at the creature's midsection, scoring a hit. She raised her sword to deliver another attack, but was forced to jump to the side to avoid an attack from another one of the creature's attacks.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to just stand there and stare?" she shouted at me.

Jeez, when'd she get so reckless? I sighed and ran to help her.

I managed to deflect an attack aiming for Raven's neck and stab the creature through the chest. It reeled back in pain, but stood standing. Another creature then leapt over the one that I had just stabbed and swung down at me, forcing me to brace the flat of my blade against my arm to block the attack. With a grunt of effort, I shoved the creature back and slashed it across its chest.

Behind me, I saw Raven was facing the other two ninja creatures and was fairing fairly well. Unfortunately I couldn't keep an eye on her as I had to defend against the relentless attacks from the two I was facing.

Activating a sword skill, I stabbed furiously at the creature in front of me, nicking it several times across the torso. The other one took that time to lunge at my exposed flank deliver a strong hit. I withheld a wince as I glared at the offending creature. I brought up my blade and decapitated it.

Seeing its friend fall, the other ninja leapt into the air and threw a flurry of shurikens at me. I quickly brought up my blade and did my best to deflect the lethal petals, though a few managed to graze me. As soon the last shuriken was thrown, I dashed at the monster and stabbed it through where a heart normally would be. It gasped in pain before bursting into pixels.

As I took that moment to catch my breath, I glanced back to Raven and saw that she had just finished the last of the ones that she was facing. She turned back to me and smirked triumphantly.

"See? Nothing to worry about!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" I said, a little annoyed. "We still have the powerful enemy to face that will most likely a lot stronger than those four."

"And we'll handle it just like we handled them," she said confidently. "Relax, DJ. We'll be fine."

Before I could even say anything, she was already walking again.

"Come on, we still have a ways to go!" she called back.

Sighing in defeat I reluctantly ran to catch up to her. Despite being annoyed with her for not listening, I wasn't about to let her face some unknown enemy alone.

-Virtual-

We walked for about another hour, occasionally encountering other monsters. I held my misgivings to myself, knowing that Raven would just disregard them, but I still couldn't shake the feeling of unease. I kept expecting this mysterious enemy to jump out at any moment and strike us down, but nothing happened.

We finally entered a large clearing; a perfect circle cut in the middle of the forest. The wind caused the soft blue grass to sway to and fro and the stray cherry blossom petals to swirl around. Not going to lie, it was a very beautiful area.

"Wow, it's beautiful," Raven uttered in amazement. She held out her hand and caught one of the petals. "The way the light reflects off the petals and grass is amazing."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"That's one thing that I always liked about this game," she continued, looking off pensively. "The beautiful landscapes, the sunsets, the sunrises. All of this color and detail leaves me breathless. It's a big difference from..."

"From what?" I pried.

"It's...It's not important," she said evasively. She turned back to the clearing and her eyes widened. "What's that?"

I turned to where she was looking and I couldn't withhold a gasp at what I saw. In the center of the clearing was a Japanese style shrine with a stone pedestal in the center of it. How the hell did we not see that when we got here?

"It looks like some kind of shrine," I commented.

"I wonder what it's doing here," Raven asked, stepping closer to the shrine. No sooner had she taken a step forward a voice echoed through the clearing.

" **Who goes there?** "

"Who said that?!" Raven asked in alarm.

" **You are trespassing upon my domain. Leave this place, now!** "

"I think it's whatever's guarding the sword," I reasoned, unsheathing my blade in preparation.

" **You still refuse to leave?** " the voice inquired, the wind carrying the voice though the clearing, making it impossible to pinpoint its origin. " **If you are refusing to leave, then you must be here for a reason.** **You are here for my blade, aren't you?!** "

At that a screen popped up in front of us. Only two buttons were on the screen: one that said yes and another that said no. Raven and I glanced at each other before she steeled herself up and pressed the 'yes' button.

" **Very well,** " the voice uttered. All of a sudden the wind picked up, pulling black cherry blossoms along with it. The petals swirled together, creating a miniature tornado of dark blue. When the wind finally subsided we could see a lone women standing before us. She stood around eight feet tall with long dark blue hair -not unlike Raven's- that she had styled in a high ponytail. She wore a black bodysuit with a dark blue and slightly armored battle dress. On her face was a dark blue oni mask with gold highlights and fangs. A medium length ninjato strapped across her waste.

" **If you will not leave voluntarily, then you shall leave in pieces!** " As she said this, she grasped the hilt of the blade with her right hand and pulled out the blade. It was beautifully crafted, the blade being a dark gray with the guard being shaped like a cherry blossom. All at once a red icon appeared above her head along with three health bars. The name, _Yatagarasu_ , appeared above her.

"See she only has three health bars, we'll be fine," Raven said confidently. However as she spoke I saw a blur of blue flash in the corner of my eye. "We can totally handle-" Before she finished, I lunged forward just in time to block a sword strike aimed for Raven's neck.

She was fast. Very fast. Honestly, if it wasn't for Silfarion I probably wouldn't have even seen her move.

Pushing against her blade I realized just how much stronger she was compared to me. Despite wearing a mask, I could tell that she wasn't even straining against me. She probably would have pushed me to my knees if Raven hadn't snapped out her stupor and stabbed Yatagarasu in her torso.

Yatagarasu growled in pain before leaping back, slashing at Raven as she went. Raven was barely able to lean away from the attack, though she was still grazed across her arm. Yatagarasu landed lightly before dashing at us once more.

Instinctively, I jumped in front of her and met her sword strike. The force of her attack and the momentum she carried from her lunge, caused me to skid back a few feet before I came to a stop. Yatagarasu came at me like a hurricane, slashing and stabbing at me with such speeds that I was actually getting dizzy. I blocked and parried as many of her attacks as I could, but a suffered a few hits.

She then raised her sword diagonally over her head before it took on a red sheen. She brought down her sword diagonally, breaking my guard and cutting me across my chest. Before I could recover, she spun around and left a horizontal gash against my torso.

I stumbled back, before bringing up my sword in defense. She dashed at me again, but was blocked when Raven appeared at her side and slashed her across her side. Taking Yatagarasu moment of shock and pain I leveled my sword at my side, the blade parallel to the ground and activated a sword skill. As the light overtook my sword I dashed forward at blinding speed and slashed through the mask wearing ninja, leaving a long slash mark across her waist.

Not even pausing, Yatagarasu spun on her heel, cutting not only Raven, who was still at her side, but also slashing me across my back. I stumbled forward from the force behind the attack and before I could fall, Yatagarasu stabbed me in the side.

I caught myself and spun around, barely able to deflect the attack that Yatagarasu sent towards my neck. I scrambled away from the giantess, avoiding another attack. Glancing up at my health bar I saw that I was teetering towards the yellow. She was powerful!

Seeing my plight, Raven ran at Yatagarasu, hoping to catch her off guard again with a well timed sword skill, but Yatagarasu somehow noticed her and sidestepped away from her. Before Raven could even gasp in shock, Yatagarasu had slashed her across her back and sent her to the ground.

As Yatagarasu raised her blade to plunge it into Raven's back, I lunged forward and deflected her blade, scoring a short cut against the monster women's side. Unfortunately she recovered very quickly and slashed at my neck at startling speeds, leaving me barely enough time to block it.

We stood there for several seconds, pushing against the other, neither one of us willing to back down. Slowly, but surely she began to push me down, causing my knees to unintentionally bend. As I struggled to push back against Yatagarasu blade I didn't see the swift kick aimed towards my stomach. Before I even realized what was happening, the air in my lungs was forcibly removed and I was sent flying across the clearing.

I struggled to catch my breath as I hit the ground with a crash, the force of the impact not helping. Struggling to my feet I was unprepared for a sword to flash in front of me, cutting me across my chest and sending me sprawling back to the ground.

Thankfully, by that point, Raven had recovered from the attack and jumped between Yatagarasu and my prone body. The two exchanged swift blows, each leading to a flash of sparks from each time their swords met. When I finally managed to push myself to my feet I jumped in the fray, introducing my own attacks into the mix. Soon Yatagarasu became hard-pressed to defend against our attacks, despite her speed.

Raven and I switched constantly, leaving one of us to defend against Yatagarasu's attacks while the other healed. It was an effective strategy that was constantly used by other players, and this fight proved that. Eventually we were able to drop Yatagarasu to a half bar of health.

Yatagarasu stumbled back, her entire body littered with red slashes and we weren't much better. Our bodies were also covered in red slash marks and we were breathing heavily.

"We've got her on the ropes!" Raven panted. "Let's end this!"

Unfortunately she spoke too soon. Yatagarasu glared at us through the eye slits in her mask. She then raised her sword again, the blade taking on a midnight blue glow. The same color as the petals of the cherry blossom trees. In a flash, she was in front of us and before we could raise our blades, Yatagarasu was already bringing down her sword. She slashed both of us across the chest, causing us to cry out in pain. She continued through with her momentum, twisting her body around delivering another slash just above the previous ones. She then brought her sword to her left side, the blade horizontal with the ground and in a blur of blue she was behind us, her sword outstretched and glowing blue petals flowing behind her.

In the next second our bodies were suddenly slashed several times leaving a patchwork of gashes across our bodies. We both fell to the ground in pain from the attack. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that her health bar was steadily increasing. The attack had healed her!

"This isn't good," I grunted as I got to my feet. Looking at our health bar I saw that I was in low yellow and Raven was in the red.

"Okay, I admit, she's tougher than I thought," Raven begrudgingly admitted, getting to her feet.

"I've got an idea, but it's risky," I said. "There's a good chance that we'll get killed if I don't do this right."

"We really don't have any other options," she pointed out.

"Good point. When you see an opening, attack with your strongest sword skill." Not waiting for an answer, I ran at Yatagarasu and engaged her in a deadly dance of blades. I kept a close eye on my health bar, making sure it didn't get too low.

When I saw that her health was low enough I activated Silfarion's sword skill. My sword hacked and slashed through Yatagarasu's body, dealing a lot of damage. Halfway through my attack she activated her own skill to counteract my own attack, but she was unable to land a hit. With my attack coming to an end I slashed upward with my sword, causing her sword arm to jerk back, leaving her exposed.

"NOW!" I shouted.

"HYRAH!" Raven screamed as she dashed forward, her sword glowing light blue. Before Yatagarasu could bring down her sword in defense, Raven's blade pierced her chest.

Everything was still. Yatagarasu made no move to either dislodge the blade or bring down her own. I looked at her health bar and saw that her health bar had dropped to zero. We had won.

Raven removed her sword from the masked enemy's chest and took a cautious step back. Yatagarasu's arm lowered to her side, her sword just cresting over the now still grass.

" **You...have bested me,** " she said, her tone sounding almost impressed. **You are worthy to wield my blade. I wish you luck.** "

With that her body burst into thousands of blue cherry blossom petals which were scattered into the wind before the faded. A few seconds later twin screens appeared in front of us, congratulating us on our win and giving us quite a bit of exp.

"Well, that was dramatic," I commented dryly.

"See? I told you we could handle it," Raven said smugly.

"...Let's just go," I said pinching the bridge of my nose.

-Virtual-

 **Delior, Floor 47**

The sun was just cresting over the horizon when we got back to Delior. Many of the other players were already heading towards inns or their guilds for the night.

"Well, that was an interesting day," Raven commented.

"Yep," I agreed. "How are you liking the new sword?"

"I love it," she said, looking down at the sword which now hung at her side. "Thanks again for helping me today."

"Eh, no big deal," I said nonchalantly. "I had nothing better to do."

"No, it is a big deal," she insisted. "You risked your life so that I could get a sword. I really owe you one."

"You don't owe me anything. Besides you helped me with the whole Dagur thing."

"That was nothing compared to what we went through today."

"Look, just don't stress it, okay?" I was a little flustered over Raven's gratitude. You'd think after all the times I've helped people in the game I would be a lot less flustered over getting thanks.

"Well, alright, but I still think I owe you," she said uncertainly. "Anyway, I should probably get back to the guild before Fabian starts telling people that I died."

"Okay see ya'," I said with a wave. She waved back and began to walk away. She went a few yards before she stopped. She then ran back towards me. Before I could process what was happening, she gave me a swift peck on my cheek.

"Wha-?" was my intelligent response to the swift kiss. What had just happened?!

"Thanks," she said, before running off, leaving me to stand there alone in contemplation over what had just happened.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

50th Floor Boss

 **June 1st, 2026**

 **Stonefront Chasm, Floor 50**

We stood before silently before the large stone doors that would lead us to the boss room. Every guilds best fighters were here, making our total well over a hundred players, but that was to be expected. This boss was one of the quarter bosses, and after last time, we needed all the help we could get.

No one spoke the entire day, too nervous or scared of the impending fight. It was very disconcerting to be in such a large group while there was barely any sound, but I barely noticed. I off in the corner of the room we were currently resting in, off in my own little world. I wondered if we really had a chance against this boss. After the disaster with the last quarter boss, I truly wasn't sure.

Looking over the assembled group I couldn't help but wonder how many of them would die today.

"Hey." I turned towards Raven, who had just approached me.

"Hey."

"So how've you been?" she asked in a slightly awkward voice.

"I've been good," I responded dryly. "You?"

"Fine." She sat down next to me and we fell into a slightly strained silence. "Do you think we'll survive?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"Do you think we'll survive?" she repeated. "In your honest opinion, do you think that we can beat the floor boss?"

"Oh," I muttered in understanding. I looked down at the ground in thought. "I...I don't know."

"Oh." I immediately cursed myself when I heard the depressed tone in her voice.

"I-I mean, we've got a good chance!" I said quickly. "I mean we've got the strongest players of the game here! There's no way we can lose."

I inwardly winced at the cheesiness of my voice. Seriously, that was such a cliché that it belonged in an 80's movie!

"You don't have to lie, DJ." I jumped slightly at Raven's voice. Looking at her I saw that she was giving me a small smile. "I asked for you honest opinion, not some washed up optimistic reassurance."

My eyes widened in surprise before I smiled slightly. Raven always one that hated coddling, she always liked to here the blunt truth rather than a merciful lie.

I sighed in defeat. "I...I really don't know," I relented. "We've got a lot of good players, but I don't know what to expect. The quarter bosses aren't like other bosses. Their supposed to be more difficult to fight and I really don't know if we can beat it, even with all of us."

"Man, talk about blunt," Raven laughed.

"You wanted an honest answer!" I said defensively.

"Whoa, chill," Raven said, raising her hands in a placating manner. "I was just messing with you."

I huffed indigently before turning away, much to Raven's amusement. The awkwardness air that had initially surrounded us evaporated, allowing us to sit in comfortable silence. After about a couple minutes, she broke the silence.

"Thank you." I turned and gave her a curious look.

"For what?" She smiled shyly at me, something that stunned me at the time.

"For being truthful with me," she said. "You're not afraid to say that your unsure, something that most people wouldn't do. You don't go around making false promises that everything's going to be alright or spewing some other bullshit like that."

"Language," I chided without any real bite.

"Whatever," she said with an eye roll. "We're stuck in a death game. I think we have the right to curse."

"True," I agreed.

"Anyway, I just wanted to thank you," she said, blushing lightly.

"You don't need to thank me," I said, waving off her thanks.

"Yes I do," she insisted. "and not just for your honesty, but for everything that you've done for not just me, but everyone." She took a deep breath before continuing. "You took the fall for all the beta testers back on the first floor, you put up with the constant hatred, you've saved multiple players, and you got rid of that psychopath, Dagur! You did all of that without even asking for a thank you!"

My face grew warm as she recounted my achievements before mumbling, "I don't need any thanks."

"And that's what I'm talking about! You do all of this out of the goodness of your heart. I don't think anyone would go through all of that without asking for anything in return." She pinned me with a penetrating stare. "So why? Why would you be so selfless?"

I turned away from her and stared at the ground. "I've always been like that," I answered. "My dad...died when I was young, but I always remember what he told me. He wished for me to do what I could to help those who can't help themselves." I looked up at the sky in thought, remembering a time when my dad would sit me down and talk about his life and his passion.

"He was in the army when he was alive," I continued. "He told me that he joined because he wanted to make a difference. He wanted to help those who weren't strong enough to help themselves." I felt my eyes misted a little and I furiously rubbed my eyes. "His goal, his desire...he passed it on to me. When he died, I made a vow that I would honor his last wish, to help those who can't help themselves."

When I didn't hear Raven respond I took the chance and glanced at her. Her gaze was solely focused on me. Her eyes were slightly misty with unshed tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah...I'm fine." She wiped her eyes before returning her attention back to me. "That's...that's a sad story. I'm sorry for what you had to go through."

"Yeah, well...what you gonna' do?" I asked, sheepishly scratching the back of my head. "You can't change the past, so you don't have to apologize."

"I know, but..." she trailed off before shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. I guess now I know why you do what you do."

"Yeah..."

That uncomfortable silence was back.

"DJ..." I looked at her.

"Hmm?"

"I..I just wanted to say I'm grateful." Her face was almost as red as a tomato and she couldn't meet my eyes.

"For what?" I questioned.

"For what your father." She raised her head, meeting my gaze. "For everything he taught you that made you who you are today."

"Raven..."

"DJ, I..."

I honestly didn't realize how close we were to each other. She began to lean forward and I unconsciously mimicked her movements. We were inches apart and closing. My heart was beating a mile a minute. We were centimeters away. Millimeters...

"Hey guys!" We jumped apart at the sudden voice, our faces bright red. We looked towards the offending voice and saw Uno smiling widely at us. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"NO!" both Raven and I shouted in unison.

"Oh, okay," he said uncertainly. "Anyway, we're getting ready to enter the boss room, so you guys might want to get ready." With that he walked off to inform more players.

Both of us sighed in relief when Uno left. We glanced at each other nervously before we got to our feet.

"Sooo..." I said awkwardly.

"Yeah," she said in an equally awkwardly. "I'll see you in the boss room?"

"Yeah, see you," I confirmed, a strained smile playing across my lips.

She gave me one last smile before walking off to find her guild. When she was out of sight, I sighed deeply, placing my back against the wall. What had just happened?

-Virtual-

Our raiding party entered the room cautiously, scoping the room for any danger. To our surprise, like the 25th floor, the room's layout wasn't like a normal boss room. Instead of the standard chamber-like room, this room reminded me of the Roman Colosseum. The stone bleachers were dilapidated, cracks and missing sections being prominent. There was an emperor's box at the top, but like the bleachers, it was decrepit and falling apart. Rusted cell doors that were ruffly twenty feet tall lined the entirety of the coliseum.

Another thing I noted was that it was completely empty. There were no spectators, no emperor, nothing. The only sound that could be heard was our muffled footsteps across the sandy floor. It was ominous to say the least.

Once we had reached the center of the room we grouped up, forming a tight circle as to not be caught off guard if the boss were to appear from any angle. We waited with bated breath for the boss to appear. All of a sudden a loud trumpet echoed through the colosseum.

We tensed at the sound, looking around frantically for the source of the sound. Before we could ascertain where the sound originated from, it stopped. Shortly afterwards, the rusted bars directly ahead of us shuttered before slowly raising.

We all faced the door, glaring in apprehension as the doors continued to rise. When the door finally reached its cap we waited in bated breath for the boss to enter the arena. For several seconds, nothing appeared. Many of us began to glance at one another with confused yet cautious expressions on our faces. Then, two glowing red eyes cut through the darkness, glaring at us with pure hatred.

A loud guttural roar cut through the silence followed by a thud and another and another. Before we knew it, we were staring down a fifteen foot humanoid wearing bronze centurion armor complete with a blood-red cape. A plumed helmet covered his face from view, leaving only his red eyes visible.

In his hands were a large shield and a twenty foot spear, the shaft coming up at ruffly fifteen feat tall. The spear head was a bright crimson with a gold finish and was about five feet on its own. His shield, mimicking his color scheme, was bronze with a red wolf head emblazoned on it.

I mentally cursed when I saw the boss's spear. Spears were primarily used to attack those from a distance while simultaneously keeping the enemy at bay. If we hoped to do any damage against this boss, we would have to avoid that spear.

The behemoth roared, as if challenging us to face it in battle. By its head four health bars appeared along with the name 'Mars'.

Mars, the roman god of war. How fitting.

"ATTACK!" someone shouted, eliciting shouts from everyone as they charged forward.

Like usual, spell casters stayed away from the boss's range of attacks while the rest of us surrounded the boss and attacked it from all sides. This tactic was used to divert a boss's attention and make confused and uncertain of whom to attack. That's how normal bosses react to this tactic. That's not how Mars reacted.

Mars gazed at us impassively, not that I could tell considering his eyes were literally just dots of light. As we started to attack, he raised his spear and with an almost lazily flick of his wrist, swept his spear across the field.

Thankfully, after fighting multiple bosses that have preformed similar techniques, we were able to either dodge or block that attack. Much to our surprise, instead of following up with another attack, Mars leapt backwards into the air, jumping over several players that had attempted to flank him.

He landed with an earth shattering boom, kicking up a plume of sand into the air. He raised his spear high into the air, the head gaining a golden glow, before thrusting it at us with blinding speed. Unlike his last attack, the players were caught off guard by this attack. Some, like myself, were able to dodge the blinding assault, but others received several gashes across their bodies.

Seeing their comrades in danger, the spell casters simultaneously launched a volley of different spells at Mars. Unperturbed by the wave of spells, Mars raised his shield, deflecting the majority of the attacks. The spells that managed to get through his guard did a considerable amount of damage, though not enough to be substantial.

Taking advantage of his current position, the front line fighters and I charged forward. Mars saw us advancing and lashed out at us with his spear. Some were hit, but the rest of us were able to dodge the attack and get in close enough to deal damage.

As soon as we got in range, we unloaded on the boss; attacking him with our strongest attacks. Gashes littered Mars' legs and lower torso, but he remained seemingly unconcerned. Not only that, but Mars seemed to be able to predict our moves. Yes he took damage, but a lot less than a normal boss would have when faced with so many attackers.

He maneuvered through our ranks all the while keeping us from getting behind him. He deflected hits with his giant shield and kept us back with his spear. He also was able to dodge the hail of arrows that was continuously fired at him by the few archers of the group.

Kane really went all out when designing this boss. Almost every monster in the game would scarcely dodge an attack; favoring attacking wildly. But Mars, he acted like an actual warrior. He dodged, blocked, and moved constantly. It was like he was thinking, anticipating our moves and tactics before coming up with counter attacks. Not only that, but he actively seek out the spell casters and any other players that tried to hide in the back. It was honestly like fighting a human.

We were forced to improvise as our initial tactic had failed. We attacked mercilessly, doing our best to damage the boss, but Mars was just as brutal. He hadn't killed anybody yet, but he got pretty damn close on several occasions when he decided to go after the spell casters. Eventually we were able to back him into a literal corner, limiting his movements. Every time he tried to jump over us the spell casters immediately shot him back down with their most powerful spells. He was stuck.

We continued to wail on the boss, making it nigh impossible for Mars to defend himself. We began to steadily bleed Mars' health away as we continued to attack. Soon he was down to just one health bar.

While other players were ecstatic over this, I was immediately put on guard. If our fight against the Wakua Beast had taught me anything was that the quarter bosses were not this easy to fight. Sure Mars was hard to hit with his human-like way of fighting, but that level of difficulty was more along the lines of a high level boss, not a quarter boss. From what I could gather -which admittedly wasn't very much as we had only fought one other quarter boss- a quarter boss had some special ability that made it leagues above other floor bosses. Mars had something up his sleeve, and I feared what it was.

Unfortunately, I had no time to contemplate on what this ability could be before the last of Mars' health was depleted.

A cheer began to erupt through the raid party at the supposed defeat of the boss. They were all ecstatic, thinking that they had defeated the boss without casualty. Some, like me, were skeptical over such an easy win and were watching the unmoving boss with trepidation.

After receiving the last hit, Mars froze. He stood like that, his body a rigid as a statue, for about a minute. By that point, the cheers had died out as everyone realized that the boss had not burst into pixels and were now watching the giant cautiously. Unsure of what was happening, we were caught off guard when Mars released an abrupt groan/roar of pain and anguish. His spear fell from his hand, shattering as soon as it touched the ground, as his body was engulfed in a light that was bright enough to force us to avert our gazes.

When the light finally faded, and we were able to return our gazes to the boss, we were taken aback by his new armor. Unlike his previous armor that exposed his biceps, thighs, and neck, his new armor covered everything. There was not a sliver of skin that was exposed under his bronze armor. It could also be noted that the armor seemed a lot bulkier, becoming more reminiscent of a knight's armor with the same roman style. I also noted that he no longer wore a cape.

To our horror, his health bars filled back up, leaving him with four brand new health bars. We had to beat him all over myself.

I really hate when I'm right.

Mars raised his hand to the sky and summoned a large red mace, roaring with renewed fury. Without missing a beat, Mars swung his mace at us, forcing all of us to back away swiftly. With no target, Mars' mace slammed into the ground, causing the entire arena to shake from the force.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I heard a player shout.

Keeping a snide comment from escaping my mouth, I charged forward, banking on Mars' new armor would keep him from reacting too fast, I attacked viciously. To my horror -though not my surprise- my attack did very little to Mars.

Gritting my teeth, I jumped back in order to avoid a mace swing from the boss. Sliding back, I watched as several other players ran past me and delivered their own attacks against the armored boss. Mars raised his shield against the attacks, blocking most of the attacks, but the few that go through did little damage.

The archers took this as a cue to fire arrow after arrow at the boss. However, the boss's armor negated a majority of the damage, much like it did against our weapons. Even with sword skills, we were barely making any headway.

Seeing their attacks were doing very little, the spell casters took it upon themselves to unleash their most powerful spells upon the boss. Fireballs rained, lightning streaked through the air, spiritual beasts roared and clawed. It was madness. All the while the close combat fighters attacked along with the archers, attempting to do as much damage as the possibly could.

Despite all of this, Mars stood strong. He deflected and blocked attack after attack, not even flinching when an attack made contact. He was relentless with his attacks, swiping at all that got within range of his weapon. Few were struck by his attack, but those who were were knocked back into the air. Despite the incredible knock back that the weapon appeared to have, the attacks didn't do as much damage as I thought it would.

We had been fighting for who knows how long and it was beginning to take its toll. Soon, spell casters were guzzling down potions to restore their magic and others were downing stat spells in order to do more damage.

At one point, I found myself fighting next to Reaper, defending against Mars' attack while doing damage when we could. Once when Mars had attempted to smash us into the dirt, we leapt over his arm, kicking off of the limb and slashing at his upper torso with extreme prejudice. Both of our attacks did a considerable amount of damage -in terms of the amount that we were doing to Mars in this form-, actually eliciting a cry of pain from the behemoth. When we touched down, Reaper shot me a smug grin before he was launched through the air when Mars swung around and hit him. I knew he was okay as Mars' attacks weren't doing that much damage, so I tried not to worry.

After many, many minutes, and basically every potion that we held, we managed to finish of the last of Mars' health. Like last time, Mars' body froze before he dropped both his mace and shield. A loud cracking noise drew our attention to the spiderweb cracks that were currently spreading across his armor. The cracks continued to spread until it shattered revealing another set of armor under it.

His helmet was still in place, completely unchanged, but the rest of his armor was different. Gone was the total body armor, in its place was a leather chest piece. Unlike that armor, the bronze sabatons were replaced by leather sandals. His arms, legs, and hands were completely uncovered, revealing bronzed and muscular body to the world. The armor also seemed to be a lot lighter than either of the two previous armors.

With a challenging roar, Mars summoned a red broad sword into his hands and swung it before we could react. Fortunately, or unfortunately, only three people were struck. Unfortunately because that one strike was able to deplete them completely of health.

We could only stare slack-jawed as three of our players were just taken out like they were nothing. We were broken from our stupor as Mars released an almost feral battle cry and charged us. We tried to shore up our lines, but were stopped when Mars smashed into us.

He hacked and slashed at us with a kind of bestial fury that he had not demonstrated. It was like he had been completely fallen into a rage induced state where all his cognitive thought was replaced by an animalistic desire to kill. He had become like all the other bosses, except with the strength of ten of them.

We defended the best we could, dodging and deflecting and occasionally jumping behind the guardians and their shields, but we were taking damage. The spell casters had tried to help with attacking, but they had used up almost all of their spells against Mars' previous forms. It was then that I realized what his previous form's true intention was.

It wasn't to just be an annoying fight, it was so that we'd exhaust our potions! It was all so that the spell casters would use all their magic restoring potions so they couldn't use any of their stronger spells against this form!

I couldn't afford to dwell on my sudden revelation, Mars was tearing through us, taking out player after player with each attack, and I needed to help.

I weaved through the panicking players and confronted Mars. Mars barely spared me a glance before slashing at me with his sword. I brought up my sword and grunted as I was forced back from the attack. Thankfully, I was able to stave off the damage from the hit. Recovering swiftly, I dove at the boss and slashed him across his thigh.

Ares bellowed in pain from my attack. My eyes widened when almost a quarter of Mars' health was depleted from my assault. That was the trade off for having such a high attack stat; he had low defense!"

"HIS DEFESE STAT IS LOW!" I roared at the others, cutting through their terrified shouts of the raid party.

Two things happened at my declaration. One: the rest of the raid party heard me and began to bolster their lines and two: Mars heard me. As if he understood what I was saying, Mars' attention became solely focused on me.

Me and my big mouth.

I was forced on the defense as Mars came at me like a whirlwind, slashing and stabbing with renewed ferocity. While I was fairly certain I could survive _one_ hit, but several? I would have been just another burst of pixels. Honestly, if it wasn't for Silfarion and its speed boost, I would be dead. Everything around me blurred together as I weaved through Mars' attacks at speeds that would make a cheetah jealous. I attempted to counter with attacks of my own, but Mars was almost as fast as me. He dodged or parried all of my attacks, pressing me back with more attacks. I couldn't retreat either as he would follow me, not even breaking in his attacks. I didn't dare attempt to use a sword skill as I knew that, even if I hit, the second that the system took to deactivate, I would be toast.

Thankfully, I wasn't facing Mars alone for long -or at least I thought it wasn't long, I honestly couldn't tell. Mars, completely focused on me, was blindsided by several players attacking his unprotected back.

Mars shouted in pain before whirling around and glaring at the offending players. Taking the chance, I leapt into the air and activated Heaven's Descent. Leaving the signature three x's across Mars' back, the rest of his first health bar disappeared. My elation over the damage I had dealt was short lived as Mars spun around to face me once more. The enraged boss raised his sword high, the signature light of a sword skill engulfing his blade, and slashed at me.

I swear I could see my life flash before my eyes as the blade inched closer and closer. At the last second, Kent appeared before me, his shield raised. With a loud **clang** , Mars' sword met Kent's shield, sending him sliding into me and me to the ground, the spikes on Kent's armor digging into my body and dealing a small bit of damage. Wincing from the jarring hit, Kent swung his shield arm to the side, catching Mars' sword with one of its spikes, and pushed Mars' sword away. He then lunged forward and stabbed the boss in the gut.

With another shout of pain, Mars stepped back in order to put distance between him and Kent, but was assaulted by other players who had regained their courage and began assaulting the boss. Feeling control over my body, I leapt to me feet, muttered a quick "Thanks" to Kent, and leapt into the fray.

Emboldened by the decline in Mars' health, we all attacked at once. We managed to surround the weakening boss, throwing everything that we had in a desperate attempt to end the horror that was Mars. However, Mars was not just standing their idly. He attacked us furiously, rage filling him with an almost desperate attempt at survival. He killed player after player, tearing through our lines like they were nothing, but it was all for naught.

In Mars' final moments I caught Reaper preforming a skill that was reminiscent on Iaido, the art of swiftly unsheathing then resheathing one's blade. Just after this, Maximus weaved behind Mars and stabbed him several times in the ankle. Kent, not being one to be outdone, slashed and hacked with a primal ferocity. At the same time Raven used the same skill that Yatagarasu had used to drain our health.

Seeing an opportunity, I ran forward and unleashed my high speed sword skill. I slashed violently at Mars, shouting in rage, adrenaline pumping through my veins like blood. Mars managed to deflect some of my attacks, his speed being a close match to my own, but he was still helpless against the lightning quick slashes of my sword.

My attack finished and to my increasing horror, Mars still had a sliver of health left in his final bar. He turned almost painstakingly slow towards me, his glowing red eyes flashing with hatred. He swung his sword down at me in an attempt to finally end my existence. He almost succeeded too, if it weren't for a certain shop owner jumping to my rescue.

Taking a chance, Uno had run through the other archers and through the surrounding players and stood in front of me. Raising his crossbow, he fired one of his signature alchemic bolts, this one igniting in flames shortly after its release. The flaming bolt soared through the air, flying right past Mars' swinging sword, and shot right Mars in one of his glowing eyes.

Mars form froze, his sword stopping an inch from me and Uno. We all tensed, waiting to see if Mars had a third form up his sleeve. Thankfully, Mars gave a final groan in pain and defeat before bursting into pixels, the customary 'Congratulations' screen appearing before us. But none of us celebrated. There was nothing to celebrate.

Looking around I counted ruffly thirty players. Thirty out of over one hundred players were left. Over seventy percent of our party had been killed by this boss. Only one though was going through our collective minds.

Could we really get to the hundredth floor?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The Unbeatable Knight

 **August 8th, 20126**

 **Gaeos, Floor 61**

Things began to change after we defeated the second quarter boss. There was an air of depression that hung over us like a particularly nasty storm cloud. There was still talk in the streets and taverns, but their conversations were subdued. Everyone knew what happened on the 50th floor; how we lost all those people. Because of this many players were reluctant to face the floor bosses for fear of dying.

Many guilds had left the raid party, leaving only thirty of us left to fight the floor bosses. Now only the major guilds were involved in the boss raids, though not every member participated. Even though the raid groups were made up of some of the strongest players in the game, we still had casualties. These were dark times, and we were losing hope.

I sighed tiredly as I kicked a stone along the road. Gaeos was in many ways different than other towns and cites that made up SAO. While it had the customary dirt roads and stone buildings, all around the city were strange totems in various positions. These totems depicted various creatures ranging from animals to even monsters that plagued this world. Each statue was made of some type of semi-translucent crystal that glowed a myriad of colors when the sun went down. Each one was covered in moss, signifying their age. However, these totems weren't what made Gaeos special.

Carved in the stonework of the buildings and totems were runes that, if translated, into the same language that spell casters used to cast their spells. Though only those with the arcanist could translate them. See that what made Gaeos special wasn't for its clearly rich heritage in the magical arts (can you even say that a location in a game has a heritage?), no it was a certain shop that made this place special. A shop that could only be found just as the sun was cresting over the horizon; when the totems began to glow.

Forcing myself to remain unmoving as I stared at a seemingly empty lot full of weeds and dry earth. Not many players knew of this little shop and even fewer had the common sense to ask the info broker about it. Not that I was complaining. Having to wait with a large group of whining players would be taxing on my already stressed nerves.

Unfortunately, even after a lot of time has passed many players still thought me to be the devil incarnate. Not that I said anything in my own defense, but it still got to me. Lately it seemed as if the glares and whispers had intensified among groups of people. The strange thing was it seemed like it was the same people staring at me. It was like they were following me. I shivered involuntarily at the thought.

A bright light broke me out of my thoughts. Looking back at the clearing, the four totems that were planted there were flashing brightly. All over the town, the other totems were doing the exact same thing. They continued to flash and flash before they glowed as bright as the sun. I shielded my eyes in order to not go blind. When the light finally faded, and I was able to open my eyes, there was an old wooden shack standing before me.

I grinned at the shack. I glanced over my shoulder, a paranoid tick that I had developed with all the glares focused on me. Without any further provocation, I entered the shack.

-Virtual-

The wooden floors creaked under my feet as I stepped into the shack. Now inside, it was clear that this place wasn't at all how one would imagine it. Despite the shabby outer appearance, the inside looked very well taken care of. The floors were clear of debris, the walls had not a single crack on them, the rafters had no sign of rot on them. In short, it was very well taken care of.

Looking around the store I saw shelves lining almost every inch of the building. On those shelves were strangely colored stones, arcane books, potions, and, oddly enough, a stuffed cat. In between each item was a candle that was alight with ghostly blue flames. It was the perfect magic shop, I think. Walking further into the store I noticed something else that was amiss. The store was bigger on the inside.

Yeah, wibbly wobbly timey wimey, allons-y, and all that jazz.

As the info broker said, this store was one of the best magic shop in the game. Normally only someone in one of the magic classes would find use of the store, I was here for another reason.

I walked up to the counter a pressed a brass bell that looked out of place. Instead of the typical high pitched chime that I had expected, the bell rang out like a gong, causing me to jump out of my skin. I clutched my heart instinctively, trying to get over my shock. Just as I was beginning to calm my racing heart a loud _poof_ followed by a large plume of blue smoke erupted from behind the counter.

I swore I had a heart attack right there and then. Thankfully, you could only by being killed by monsters. Hooray for the little things.

The smoke dispersed almost as quickly as it came, revealing a very old and gnarled looking man with large spectacles that magnified his already large green eyes. The sudden mental image of a praying mantis eating an insect forced me to look away from his face. To my increasing surprise and slight horror, he was wearing a very loud cloak. It was a bright purple covered in neon yellow stars that glowed as if they were actual stars. In his liver spot covered hands, he held an equally gnarled oaken staff, the top of which was shaped like some kind is misshapen dog. A green stone lodged in the creature's maw. The top of his head was as smooth and bare as a bowling ball, not surprising given the ridiculous size of his beard. Seriously, his snow white beard pooled on the ground! It was insane!

"Welcome to 'Endoris' Magic Shop'! What do you want?!" I jumped at the sound of the man's voice. It was like a mix of a really high pitched Chihuahua mixed with a man with strep. "Well?" he demanded.

"Uh, yeah," I said, cursing the interactive speech program.

"Well?!" he repeated impatiently.

"Yeah, I'm here for the magic weapon attunement," I answered.

"Ah yes, I take it you have the part required?"

"Yeah," I said awkwardly, opening my menu.

"Well? Hurry up, will you!" he said.

I bit back a retort and continued scrolling through my inventory. I finally stopped on an item labeled 'Zephyrus Jewel'. Clicking it, a sky blue colored orb covered in ancient runes appeared in my hand. It had taken me literally _days_ to get this item. I had to fight hundred -and I mean hundreds- of wind walkers, strange shadow creature's with glowing yellow eyes garbed in bright green robes. It wasn't that they were hard to beat, because they really weren't, just two strikes from Silfarion and they were done, it wasn't even because the drop was rare. No, it was because the damn things would turn into wind and disappear randomly. It was infuriating!

Getting back on track, I was about to hand over the crystal when he snatched it from my grip.

"Ah yes, yes," he said, his words slightly slurred together. "A fine crystal. And this is what you wish to attune your weapon with?"

"Yes," I said confidently.

"Fine, fine. Now hand me the weapon you with me to attune!" With great care, I unsheathed Silfarion and handed it to the man. Thankfully, he didn't try to snatch it away.

He carefully placed the blade atop of the counter. Taking the jewel into his hand he began to speak in a language that I vaguely recognized as the language spell casters used. All at once the orb glowed brightly, illuminating the entire store even further. The runes on the jewel then peeled off the orb and began to curl up in the air. The runes then then began to hover over Silfarion before sinking into the metal. Silfarion glowed bright blue for a second before it faded along with the glow of the orb, which shattered as soon as the old man stopped chanting.

"There! It is done! Now off with you!" With that, the man shoved Silfarion into my hands and preceded to shoo me out of the store, though not before taking the col that I owed him. Before I knew it, I was standing outside, the store once more gone from its spot. Looking down at Silfarion I noted a dull blue glow that emanated from blade and I couldn't help but grin.

Magic attunement, as the name suggested, allowed a player to give their weapons magic properties. The Zephyrus Jewel gave the weapon it attuned with wind magic. With the attunement, none magic using players gained a magic point gauge, though it was significantly smaller than a magic user. With it, we are able to preform a small amount magic related sword skills.

I couldn't help but smirk at the possibilities.

"Yo, DJ!" Turning I saw Reaper making his way towards me.

"Hey, Reaper. What are you doing here?" Reaper stopped in front of me and grinned.

"Oh, just walking around. I take it you got the magical attunement?"

"Yep. Took me forever to get the jewel I wanted to, though." Reaper nodded in understanding.

"I feel ya' man," he said. "So, are you going to the coliseum tomorrow?"

I frowned. "Coliseum? What for?"

"You mean you haven't heard?" he asked in shock.

"Heard about what?"

"There's a guy that's challenging any player to one on one duels. He's offering two million col to anyone who can beat him!"

"Two _million_ col?!" I could imagine the dollar signs that must have been flashing in my eyes. "I know where I'm going tomorrow!"

-Virtual-

 **New Rome, Floor 51**

New Rome, as you could probably infer from the name, was stylized like Rome. The roads were paved with white stone with large bushels of flowers decorating the sides of those rows. Ivory statues depicting various heroes facing monsters littered the city. Large buildings and temples stood proudly on the mountainous landscape. Large fountains of a Greek gods and goddess, carved in marble, holding various items stood stood in the many plazas that the city possessed. Stone aqueducts allowed access to other parts of the large city.

Walking down the stone pathways, I couldn't help but stare in appreciation. I had never been to Rome in the real world, but to the best of my knowledge, this was a pretty good replica. Begrudgingly, I had to admit that Harrison did a phenomenal job at designing this game -other then the 'death game' thing.

Vendors lined the entirety of the street leading to the main square. They sold potions, equipment, accessories, even exotic weapons that couldn't be found anywhere. The best thing about these vendors is that the items they sold changed daily, allowing players to have a chance of getting a hold of a legendary item. I, however, was not there for items.

Ignoring the stalls, I trekked down the streets with one thought in mind. Getting to the coliseum and seeing this player in action, and, if possible, getting that cool two mil!

Stepping out of the alleyway I was met with the impressive sight of the coliseum. When I first saw the coliseum, I was horrified and rightly so. It was the same coliseum that we fought Mars in. Where we lost almost a hundred players. I shuddered at the memory and continued on my way, refusing to let those memories get to me.

All around the coliseum there were hundreds of players filtering into it, forming a practical sea of people. I guess everyone had heard about the players challenge.

"Hey, DJ!" Uno's voice rang out. Turning I saw said potions dealer and Aegis making their way towards me.

"Hey guys, here to earn the two million, too?" I joked.

"Nah, I'm just here to see if this guy lives up to his name," Aegis said.

"Guy?"

"The one hosting this thing," Uno clarified. "He's called the unbeatable knight."

"The unbeatable...knight?" I asked.

"Yeah, they call him that because his health has never left the green," Aegis said.

"I still find that hard to believe," I said skeptically.

"It's true, I've seen it!" Uno exclaimed. "After the fight with Mars, he left the fight with his health still in the green!"

"Isn't it more likely that he took a potion sometime during the fight?" I questioned.

"According to those that were with him, he never took one," Aegis said.

"Riiight," I drawled, rolling my eyes in disbelief.

"Well if you don't believe it, then why don't you fight him?" Uno challenged.

"Oh, I intend to," I said, sending the alchemist a challenging grin. "This day's going to end with me being two million col richer!"

"Big words. Let's see if you can make good on them," Aegis smirked.

-Virtual-

When we entered the coliseum, my eyes immediately landed on the knight. He was an older gentleman, probably in his mid to late twenties, possibly thirties. He had relatively tan skin with sharp black eyes. His brown hair had a wild yet controlled look with his bangs just falling past his forehead. He was completely decked out in heavy black armor with gold ridges. Fluttering behind him was a large white cape with a blue underside. In his left hand he wielded a long sword with a crossguard with black stones on either tip. Switching to his right, I saw his shield and I immediately recognized it.

It was called the Shield of Achilles, a legendary weapon made from obsidian with a golden sword on the front. Much like the hero it was inspired by, the obsidian shield was nigh indestructible. While most shields served to minimize of not negate an attack, but the shield that the knight possessed would block even the strongest of attacks, physical or magic based.

I began to see how someone like him could go far without dropping to the yellow, but even with such a weapon, he would need to block the attack first. For that to happen, you'd need a ridiculously high reaction time. And I mean _high_. Like Matrix level reaction time.

Shaking my head, I focused on the fight that was currently going on. It appeared that three players had formed an alliance and were now teaming up in hopes to defeat the knight. Unfortunately for them, the fight was not going in their favor.

One player was already taken out of the fight just two minutes into the fight. The two remaining players were doing there best to fend off the black clad knight, but it was a losing battle. Despite his clearly heavy armor, the guy was weaving through their attacks, bashing them away with his shield and striking them with his sword. In another three maybe four minutes, another player was down, leaving only one. An archer.

Seeing that his allies were currently out of the fight, the archer began firing randomly in hopes of damaging the knight. However, the knight merely weaved through the soaring arrows or slapping them out of the sky, all while still running at the terrified archer. The archer let out a startled -and very unmanly- squeak as the knights blade cut into his body, taking him out of the duel.

The unbeatable knight had won. Without taking a single point of damage.

"This guy's good," I said begrudgingly. "It didn't even look like he was trying very hard."

"I doubt he was," said calculative voice.

"Hey, Raven. When'd you get here?" I asked, seeing the ravenette.

"A few minutes ago," she said, sitting down next to me, her eyes firmly planted on the black clad knight as a new fighter stepped into the arena. To my surprise, it was Reaper. "This guy's unreal."

"I admit he's good, but those other three weren't exactly the best players," I pointed out. "I could probably take them without sustaining damage."

"How humble," she drawled, turning her complete attention onto the fight.

Reaper started out strong, charging towards the knight with an overhead strike. Unfortunately, shield met sword as the knight blocked the strike. I could see Reaper grit his teeth as he tried to over power the knight, but his strength wasn't enough. With a shove, Reaper was sent stumbling back and was unprepared for a blade stabbing him through the shoulder.

Reaper immediately jumped back to gain some distance, but the knight didn't let up. He chased after the samurai and sent a slash towards his stomach that Reaper was barely able to block. Activating a sword skill, Reaper slashed at the knight several times, only for his attack to meet his sword be blocked by the shield. Before the system could shut of, Reaper was sent to the ground by a shield bash.

Reaper then had to quickly roll out of the way as to not get stabbed through the when the knight attempted to plunge his blade through the samurai's chest. Scrambling to his feet, Reaper was forced to go on the defensive as the knight began another brutal assault.

Reaper was barely able to keep with the startling fast attacks from the knight. His body was littered with glowing red cuts and gashes as he attempted defend himself. The scary thing was that the knight wasn't even using sword skill. Every attack, every block, it was all him. _He_ was doing this all on his own.

Reaper's health teetering towards the yellow, one more good hit and he'd lose, while the knight stood tall. His health not even slightly lowered. I could practically feel the frustration leeching off of the samurai as he glared at the pristine bored looking knight.

With an angry shout, Reaper's blade burst into flames. It appeared that Reaper had also successfully gone through the trials to obtain one of the elemental jewels. Without wasting any time, Reaper charged the still calm knight. I honestly thought that the attack would be enough to do at least _some_ damage to the knight, but like before Reaper's attacks hit nothing expect the shield.

With a final swing of his blade, the knight sent Reaper's health to the yellow, signifying the end of the duel.

"Okay, now I'm impressed," I said in stunned disbelief.

"He beat Reaper like he was nothing," Uno said in awe.

"Just like the others," Aegis said seriously.

"This guy's skills are unreal," Raven stated.

"And how!" We all turned and saw Maximus and Kent walking up to us.

"Maximus, I'zer," Raven nodded in greeting.

"Raven," they nodded.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We both came to fight the unbeatable knight," Maximus drawled. "But, as you can see, we didn't do very well."

"I managed to land a hit on him, but that was it," Kent said. "I wasn't prepared for his sword skills."

"He uses sword skills?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he didn't start using them until I landed a hit."

"He's holding his cards close to his chest," Aegis commented.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"He doesn't show everything that he can do in order to catch others off guard," Aegis said sagely. "As it stands, we don't truly know what he's capable of."

"Not only that, but even the info broker doesn't know all of his skills," Maximus said in his naturally uncaring tone, though you could hear his injured pride bubbling to the surface.

"Hmm," I pondered.

"You still thinking about fighting him?" Uno asked.

" _You_ want to fight him?" Maximus asked in disbelief.

"Listen, DJ, you can't beat him," Kent said seriously, which was not like him. "He's...he's not like other players. Fighting him is like fighting a floor boss by yourself. It's suicide!"

"Everyone is beatable," I replied, standing up and pulling down my hood. "And I'm gonna prove it!"

-Virtual-

I stood across from the knight, sizing him up as he did the same to me. While I seemed calm and confident on the outside, I was unnerved on the inside. Despite talking a big game to my friends in the stands, I had no idea how I was going to fight the player before me. If he were a normal guardian, I would use my superior speed to attack him from every direction to disorient him until his health drops enough, but with the guardian before me, I doubted that it would help. As I attempted to formulate a plan, the knight spoke.

"So, you're the famous silver phantom?" My eyes widened marginally, this being the first time I've actually heard the player talk.

"Yes, and your the unbeatable knight." He laughed loudly at my brazen comment.

"You've got spunk! I like that!"

"Thanks?"

He chuckled again before leveling me with an appraising stare. "I must say, I was hoping that you'd show up."

"You were?"

"Of course. How could I not, after all, you are supposedly the best player in the game."

"I am?" Seriously, this was the first time I've heard of this.

"You truly aren't aware of your own standing within this game," he stated blandly.

"I tend not to pay attention to what others say, considering that most of it is about how I'm supposedly the devil incarnate."

"Ah, yes. I have heard of such rumors, but I am more of a half glass full kind of guy."

"Must be a good outlook, especially in this kind of situation."

"It helps," he agreed with a nod. "So, shall we get to it?"

Just like that, the semi-friendly air that had formed around us dispersed. The tension that formed between us was almost suffocating. The crowd became dead silent as they watched as the supposed 'best players' were about to fight. My grip on Silfarion tightened to the point where my skin turned white. Almost lazily, the knight swung his finger out in front of him and opens his menu. After clicking a few buttons, a challenge menu appeared in front of me. Glancing at the knight, who was still giving me an almost amused grin, I clicked the 'accept' button and initiated the duel.

"Before we start," the knight said, unsheathing his blade. "I would like to know your true name of the one that I will fight."

"Oh, the name's DJ," I answered.

"...Really?"

I sighed in annoyance. "And you?"

He smirked. "Lancelot."

"One of the knights of the Round Table? Fitting."

"Thank you." Without further prompting, he charged.

I was taken aback for a second. After watching several of the guardian's fights, he had noted that he always waited for his opponent to come to him. I quickly overcame my shock and parried his sword strike, but was unprepared for his shield to slam into my gut. I coughed in pain and surprise as the shield dug into my stomach. While the shield didn't do damage, it did cause me to stumble back, giving Lancelot time to slash me across my chest.

I staggered back before diving to the side to avoid another sword slash. Pivoting on the spot, I slashed at Lancelot only for my sword to be deflected. Gritting my teeth in annoyance I activated a sword skill, swirling around and slashing at Lancelot several times in swift succession. Unfortunately, however, my attacks only met his shield.

Smirking, Lancelot slashed me across my chest as I was dealing with the cool down from the system. I fell to the ground from the powerful strike, but I immediately got to my feet in time to dodge another sword attack.

"Come now, you can do better than that!" Lancelot taunted.

I gritted my teeth as I defended myself against both sword and shield, receiving minor nicks and cuts that served to steadily lower my health. Then, amid the flurry of attacks, I saw it. A momentary gap in his defense. Instinctively thrusting with my sword, I managed to leave a small, but noticeable cut across his cheek.

Lancelot's eyes widened, shocked that after being on the defensive for so long, I had managed to land a hit. The look then fell, replaced be a look of seriousness. Narrowing his eyes at me, he launched forward, his blade taking on a red glow.

Slightly surprised by the sudden use of a sword skill, I barely managed to twist my body out of the way from the first strike, but suffered minor damage to the second strike. Knowing that he'd be suffering from the system cool down, I lunged forward, my blade aiming for his neck. To my surprise, he spun around and blocked my sword with his shield. I immediately leapt back to avoid his blade and assessed him with a critical eye.

Had I miscalculated the time the system cool down took? No, it hadn't even been a second before he managed to block my attack. Was it because of his shield?

I didn't get time contemplate this anymore as Lancelot came at me again. I defended the best I could, attacking with my own blade when I got the chance. I managed to leave very small, almost unnoticeable cuts over his body. Even so, his health was still very high in the green while mine was teetering towards the yellow. At this rate, I wouldn't be able to win.

To my relief, he backed off, giving me the chance to breathe. He regarded me with a calculative and slightly thrilled expression on his face.

"This is the closest any player has come to beating me," he said almost gleefully. "I commend you for that!"

"The fights not over yet!" I called confidently, despite my growing doubt. I had thrown everything I had at him, but nothing seemed to faze the self appointed knight. Then a thought occurred. I had something else that I hadn't tried yet, but I've never tested them. I didn't have time to think about it for too long as Lancelot charged towards me.

Without thinking, I activated my magic sword skills. My sword took on a bright blue color before I swung it viciously at the encroaching guardian. My swing generated a cyclone of wind before me that tore towards the guardian.

Lancelot's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden tornado appeared before him. I tried to stop his charge, but the winds began to pull him in, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the cyclone. Blades of wind cut into his body, not doing a whole lot of damage, but taking away his sense of balance.

The good thing about magical spell attacks was that I could move the instant after I used the spell, so second the winds subsided I leapt forward as Lancelot was still dazed from my attack. Using my another magic skill, I coated my blade in a torrent of wind that served to increase the damage of my next attack. I then used my original sword skill, I leapt into the air and spiraled down, slashing viciously against the knight's body. Unfortunately, I only managed to land three hits before Lancelot's recovered enough to block my attack. He then kicked me in the chest, knocking me to the ground.

When I hit the ground, I continued to roll, putting even more distance between me and the black clad guardian. As I got my feet, I saw Lancelot already charging me. I brought up my sword and defended against his sword. Our blades were locked against the other, putting us both in a deadlock. Unfortunately for me, his strength dwarfed mine, leading my knees beginning to buckle under me.

Knowing that I was outmatched in a battle of strength, I shifted my footing before moving to the side. Without anything to keep his blade in place, Lancelot's blade slammed into the earth. I went to stab him in the side, but was batted away by his shield.

Knowing that I had enough magic for one more big spell I channeled more wind into my blade. With a shout I swung my sword several times, releasing a flurry of wind blades at the guardian before running right after them. Lancelot tried to deflect the wind blades, which he did for the most part, but one blade managed to catch the edge of his shield, pulling it away from his body and giving me a clear view of his chest. As I charged, I leveled my blade, activated a sword skill, and thrust my blade out towards his exposed chest.

Glancing up, I saw that his health was near the yellow, one good attack would end the duel. I could do it! I was going to do it! My blade grew closer and closer and closer until my blade pier-

 ***Clang!***

My eyes widened in shock when my blade met his shield. He turned his body, causing my blade to scrape across his shield as he moved to the side, causing me to end up next to him, still stabbing. Before I even knew what was happening, the bite of Lancelot's blade cut through my side, sending my health into the yellow, and ending the duel.

I slammed into the dirt, still in a state of shock. I rolled onto my back and saw him scowling down at me. Then the scowl disappeared, replaced by a small accepting smile so fast that I wondered if I had actually seen the scowl.

"That was a good fight. You almost had me there!" he commended, offering me a hand. "It was truly a great battle."

"Y-Yeah," I managed to say, still stunned over the sudden turn of events. I took his hand and allowed him to hoist me to my feet.

He nodded before he gained a pensive look. "Actually, if you are interested, I am forming a guild made from the strongest players in the game. That was the true purpose of this fight; to find those worthy of joining me against the floor bosses. If you are willing, I would be honored to have you."

"I...I'll think about it," I said.

"That's all I ask," he said, offering a small smile. "I hope to hear from you soon."

-Virtual-

I left the arena in a daze. I still couldn't understand how he had moved his shield so fast. One second I was about to hit him then the next he was on his back. Was it an extra ability of the shield? Could it move on its own to prevent damage? What was going on?!"

"DJ!" I was torn from my thoughts at Raven's shout. She, Uno, and Kent walking towards me, a mix of emotions splayed across their faces.

"That was amazing!" Uno cried. "I've never heard of someone bring the unbeatable knight so close to the yellow! Shame you didn't win though..."

"Yeah, but that shield of his..." I muttered. "How did he move it so fast?"

"It was like it teleported in front of him," Raven said.

"Because it did," Kent said.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked, my attention immediately snapping to my friend.

Kent crossed his arms and frowned. "I was watching the whole fight with my perception ability. I saw every move he was about to make and that moment you were about to hit him...the shield was just suddenly there?"

"You mean he moved so fast _you_ couldn't see him?" asked Uno.

"No. What I'm saying is one moment his shield was to the said and the next, it was in front of him. His arm some how shifted places in a literal instant!"

My eyes were as wide as saucers. He shifted positions in an instant? How? How was that possible?!

I looked towards the arena, hearing the cheers as Lancelot fought another player and I couldn't help but wonder what secrets the so called unbeatable knight held.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Connection

 **March 15th, 2027**

 **Orcilous, Floor 64**

Things have changed since reaching the seventieth floor. Despite the constant overwhelming fear that plagued everyone's minds, people were starting to gain hope for completing the game. Just by walking through the streets, you could see the cheerfulness radiating from players. They were the lucky ones.

Those of us that participated in the boss raids knew different. The floors were becoming harder and harder, making us lose player after player with each floor boss. At this moment, more than half of the original two thousands players have died to this game and that's not even the worse part.

The knowledge that we had been trapped in this game for nearly five years has not escaped us, nor has the knowledge that the life support systems that kept are real bodies alive wouldn't last much longer. There were even rumors that players were randomly dying as a result of their physical bodies giving out. Needless to say, we were all scared.

Yet still, some chose to ignore this fact and trust that this game would end before they died. I envied them, their ability to not worry about the future. Instead, lived each day, expecting to die at any moment. That my body would just give out with out reason, killing me before I had a chance to see my family again and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

That's not even the worst part. Apparently some players got the idea that this world was reality and we should all live in SAO forever. This lead to many arguments and several players loosing their minds and becoming red players. Speaking of red players...

"We can't let this go on!" a rather large and older player shouted from across the table. He was dressed like a blacksmith, thick heavy clothes with a black apron hanging from his neck. A large hammer was resting at his side. I recognized the symbol on his arm as one of the Knights of Vengeance "Red players have become emboldened. They are wreaking havoc on all flours, even the lower ones where weaker players reside!"

"And what do you expect us to do?" a female player -a cleric from Angels of Wrath- countered. She had her auburn hair up in a tight bun and her square rimmed spectacles resting on her nose gave her a rather severe look despite looking a few years younger than me.

"I say we go out and put a stop to them!" the blacksmith said.

"How?! By killing them?!" the cleric demanded harshly. "Do you want us to sink to their level?!"

"We have to stop them. This is life or death! We can't rely on your 'kiddy' morals any longer!"

"'Kiddy' morals?!" she asked incredulously. "Is that what you call following one of the basic laws of man?!"

"You kids haven't lived in the real world. I have! The world is not just black and white. If there are people threatening out lively hood, then we must do what is necessary to survive. You you children don't have the stomach to act like adults, then you might as well leave!"

"You are only a few years older than most of us!" the cleric shouted.

I sighed at the two squabbling players. Lancelot had called a meeting of the most masters of the most prominent guilds -and me for some reason- to discuss the increased boldness of red players, specifically the one that formed dark guilds. Since conquering the seventieth floor, red players began to attack more frequently with greater numbers. There were many theories about why they were attacking like; they didn't want to leave a world where they had actual power or they didn't want to face the crimes that they had committed upon the completion of SAO. Whatever the reason, they had killed quite a few players in the recent months, and we were at an impasse over what we should do.

"Now, now," Lancelot soothed. "Why don't we all calm down. Reginald" -he indicated to the blacksmith- "you make a good point, we have to do something about these dark guilds, but as Cecilia" -he gestured to the cleric- "pointed out, by doing so, we would be ending the lives of people."

"It would just like killing a mob," Reginald scoffed.

"Just like killing mobs?!" Cecilia practically shouted in disbelief. "How can you say that?! They are people! Human beings like you and me!"

"They lost the right to call themselves human the moment they decided to kill us!" Reginald snapped.

"Enough!" Lancelot said, slightly annoyed. "Now you both have made good points, but I would like to hear from the rest of those here."

No one spoke at first. Everyone was looking at one another, wanting to wait for someone else to speak up first before they even considered voicing their own opinion. Finally, the leader of the Dusk Clad Reapers, Night, stepped forward, their black cloak fluttering around them as they walked. Their hood was firmly in place over their head, making it impossible to ascertain their gender. They were also tall, almost obscenely tall. They towered over almost everyone here.

"I would have to agree with Cecilia in this situation," they said emotionlessly. "Even if we were to defeat the red players in combat, they would not stop their attacks. We would have to kill them in order to make a difference, and I don't want to go down that path. We need to find another way to approach this problem. One that does not force ourselves to become murders."

With their piece said, a burly female player with blond hair, full plate armor, and two cold brown eyes. "Well now that tall dark and gruesome has spoke" -said player growled at the other- "now I can finally say that you are all a bunch of pansies!" She looked specifically at Cecilia and Night. "You don't want to act because you don't want to sink to their _level_? Ha! Newsflash, in this world, it's kill or be killed. This rule had applied to mobs and now it applies to players."

"So what, you want us to do? Become murders?" ALT's questioned, his usual cheerful demeanor replaced by one of deadly seriousness. "While I agree that something should be done, but you all appear to be forgetting something. These are people we are fighting, not mobs. If we kill them, they will die in the real world. Do you really want the blood of those people on your hands?"

"What other choice is their?" Reaper joined in. "Like Night said, they won't stop if we just defeat them and if there is no other plan of how we should deal with them, we have no choice but to...kill them."

"And in doing so, we become the very thing we are seeking to exterminate," ALT's said.

"What other choice to we have?!" Reaper snapped. "You all keep saying that we shouldn't kill them, but I'm not hearing any alternatives. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears!"

No one spoke, not even Cecilia who had been the most vocal over the topic had nothing to say. It was clear that no one had any other solution for the problem. Lancelot looked over everyone before his gaze fell on me.

"Phantom. What are your thoughts on this?" he asked.

I had to fight to keep myself from sighing loudly. I had really not wanted to speak on this. In truth I found myself siding with Reginald. We had to do something to stop these red players from harming anyone else, but at the same time...could we really live with ourselves after we did it.

Glancing around I saw that everyone had their eyes trained on me. I hated Lancelot for putting me in that situation. I positively loath being in the spotlight, specifically when I could see everyone looking at me. I glared at Lancelot in annoyance. Behind him were several members of his new guild, the Harbingers of Absolution, each recognizable by their black and gold themed attire. Lancelot looked at me expectantly, imploring me to speak, causing me to mentally roll my eyes.

"I truly don't know what we should do," I reluctantly confessed. "While it is true that by killing those players, we essentially become murderers, I cannot think of any other option."

"So you would see us become murderers than find a more peaceful solution?" ALT's questioned.

"No offense, ALT's, but do you really think a peaceful approach would work in this situation?" I countered. "I doubt red players would be open for discussion. As we have stated, they have killed people. They've given up their morals and have committed the ultimate taboo of man."

"So you want us to lose our own morals over them?" Cecilia asked with a look that disgust on her face.

"Would you prefer we die?"

"Typical of a beta tester," she sneered. "You all don't care about the lives of others, just yourselves."

"And here I was thinking that we were over the whole 'beta testers are evil' thing," I said dryly. "And if recall, this effects everyone, not just me. If we fail to take action, more and more players will suffer. Look I don't like the idea of killing someone anymore than the rest of you, but in this situation...it looks like it's our only option."

Cecilia grumbled incoherently, but said nothing to dispute my claims. Lancelot nodded his head gravely, his age showing now more than ever.

"Yes, it would appear that you are right," he said. "These dark guilds are becoming a pressing problem that must be dealt with, especially the guild Hades' Revenant."

Loud whispers broke out at the name of one the most infamous dark guild in the game. Out of all the dark guilds, Hades' Revenant had been responsible for almost half of the attacks. I, myself, had encountered members of the guild once or twice and I knew first hand how ruthless they can be.

"I would like us to put this to a vote," Lancelot continued. "All those in favor of mounting an assault on known dark guilds, please raise your hands."

Slowly, hands began to raise, mine included. Looking around, I saw that we were the majority. My heart sank. Despite knowing that this was our only option, part of me wanted this motion to fail.

"That is the majority," the knight said grimly.

"You've got to be kidding!" Cecilia screeched. "You all can't be serious about this?!" She looked around, trying to find someone that would agree with her, but none met her eye.

"Fine, but neither I nor Angel's Wrath will assist you in your murdering!" she seethed before storming out of the meeting hall.

"Anyone that does not want to participate, feel free to leave. No judgment will be passed," Lancelot said. No one moved. We all just kept our gazes on the floor. "Then we shall meet later on to discuss where we go from here. This meeting is adjourned."

-Virtual-

I sat silently on the wall that spanned across Orcilous, watching the sunset. The meeting was several hours ago and it was decided that we would convene again tomorrow to discuss our plan of attack. I didn't want to participate in this fight, but I knew that I had to.

The thought of killing left a very bad taste in my mouth. Was I really ready to commit murder? Even if it was justified, could I do it?

The sound of crunching grass pulled me from my thoughts. Turning I saw Raven standing behind me.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey." She sat down next to me and we sat in silence.

"My guild leader told me about what happened during the meeting," she said after a while.

"Oh? What do you think." She sighed tiredly.

"To be honest, I can't help but agree with you. We have to do something or else the rest of us will suffer."

"So you'll fight and potentially kill other players." She was silent for a while.

"Do you know why I first joined this game?" I turned to her with a curious expression. We had become fairly close during these years stuck in the game, but never did she once mention her life in the real world. "When I was born, the doctors said that I had underdeveloped retinas. Because of this, my eyes are unable to perceive almost all color."

My eyes widened at this. She was color blind? Now that I think back on it, I should have figured this out sooner. Her almost obsessive desire to look at every sunset. The way her eyes lit up when she saw flowers. How she would always have looks of pure amazement when she saw anything remotely colorful. It all made sense.

"I lived my whole life in black and white," she continued grimly. "Never being able to see what color the grass was. What color the sun was. I didn't even know what the color of my hair was until I started this game. When I learned the that VR helmet would transmit the images directly to the brain I thought...I thought that maybe I could have the chance to see color." She gave me a melancholy smile. "And I was right...I guess."

"Raven...I had no idea." She just smiled at me.

"It's fine," she assured. "It's just that...this game, despite the death factor, has been my chance to feel see color. To see a sunset and actually see it. To see a flower and to be able to see it glow. This game has done that for me and because of that, this game has become sacred to me. And now, red players are desecrating it." Tears began to glisten in her eyes and I couldn't stop myself from wrapping a supportive arm around her shoulder.

"Now red players are making this game even more dangerous than it already is and I..." She broke off as tears began to fall from her face. "They are making me fearful of just going out to watch the sunset. Even if this game is a death trap, I refuse to let them take away the one thing this game has given me!"

Her voice was so full of conviction that I couldn't help sympathizing with her. After everything this game has taken from us, it still gave Raven the one thing that she wanted most of all. I refused to let that one thing be taken from her. With my heart strengthened with resolve I looked down at the girl that I had come to care for who was currently crying on my shoulder.

"Raven." She looked up at me with her reddened eyes. "I promise you, I'll make sure you don't have to fear seeing the sunrise. I'll help you in anyway I can."

"DJ..." Her eyes danced with adoration and gratitude. The world seemed to disappear around us, leaving us to float in an empty void where the only thing that mattered was us. We both unconsciously began to lean forward. Closer and closer and closer until...

"Excuse me."

Just like that, the moment was gone and we were shocked back into reality. Turning around we saw a girl with paper white skin in a slightly armored white gown. A small dagger was strapped to her eyes. She regarded us with shy pale gray eyes.

"Um... Is this a bad time?" At her question, both Raven and I realized the position we were in. Raven immediately scooted away, much to my hidden displeasure.

"No, you fine," I said with a forced smile. "What can we help you with?"

"Um, I actually come for _your_ help personally," she said nervously. Both Raven and I narrowed our eyes unnoticeably.

"Why ask for his help?" Raven asked, her tone giving away nothing. "There are other strong players here."

"Yes but he's the only one who's been able to infiltrate a dark guild and rescue someone." I became slightly suspicious at that. Not many players knew about what I did back on Floor 6, so how did she?

"How'd you know about that?" I questioned.

"I'm friends with Diana and Travis," she explained. "They told me what you did for Diana, and I thought that you could help me with this."

"And what is it you need help with?" Raven asked.

"One of my friends got lost in Recluse Canyon." Both mine and Raven's eyes widened at that.

"Recluse Canyon?!" she shouted. "That's Revenant territory! Why the hell would they go to such a place?!"

"He wanted a rare drop that could only be gotten there." The girl was in tears by then and I don't blame her. If her friend was truly in Recluse Canyon, the hunting ground of Hades' Revenant, then there was a good chance for him to already be dead. I sighed, cursing my bleeding heart.

"Do you know where he went missing from?" I questioned.

"No, but the item he was looking for spawned near the safe zone," she supplied.

"DJ, you're not seriously thinking of going, are you?" Raven asked incredulously.

"Please help him," the girl pleaded.

"DJ," Raven whispered harshly. "I don't trust her, something seems...off about her."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I don't know, I've just got a bad feeling about this!"

"So you want me to just leave her friend there?"

"I hate to say it, but a single player being left alone at Recluse Canyon, he's probably already dead."

"Even so, I have to check."

"But why?" Raven demanded, tears beginning to reform in her eyes. "Why do you have to go?"

"Because, I swore to myself that I would help those who need it."

"Can't you at least take a few players with you?"

"A large group would attract too much attention," I explained. "If I go by myself, I have less of a chance of being caught."

"Dammit, DJ. You don't always have to do this kind of shit by yourself!" she said, her frustration mounting. I knew this was tearing her apart inside, but I stood firm.

"I know I don't, but in this case, I do." She looked me right in the eye, challenging my will with her own. I stood my ground despite of the intensity of her gaze. I was determined to help and I wouldn't be talked out of it. Eventually, she lowered her gaze.

"Fine," she relented, though she still sounded mutinous. "Go, just be careful."

"I promise." I turned back to the girl who had been standing their patiently. "I will help you."

"You will?! Thank you!" she cried, tears of happiness and relief flowing down her face. She ran forward and hugged me, catching me off guard slightly. Awkwardly, I patted her back, not noticing Raven's glare that was directed at the girl, or more specifically, her arm. Or more specifically than that, a strange black mark.

-Virtual-

 **Recluse Canyon, Floor 57**

I should known things would go bad. I really should've, especially considering that I had the luck of a lady with twenty black cats!

The moment we entered the the canyon I was immediately on guard. I wasn't foolish enough to think that I could take on the entire Hades' Revenant by myself. I doubt even Lancelot could do that. I had to be very careful and very quiet in how I approached this task. Glancing over my shoulder at the girl. She was standing a few feet away from me with an anxious look on her face. I gestured for her to follow and we set off.

Recluse Canyon was the epitome of creepy. The skies were locked in permanent night, casting darkness across the entire zone. The land was barren and dry, cracks littered the ground. The only trees were then dead ones that held no leaves and branches that stretched out like torture limbs. Large cliffs surrounded us, providing many alcoves and pathways.

We kept close to the cliff faces as much as possible, making us as less noticeable as possible. The girl took the lead for the majority of our trek, though I did occasionally pull her into an alcove just in case we were being followed. She looked annoyed that we were taking so long, but, like my mother always said, 'better safe than sorry'. Something that I had not taken notice to earlier was We had been walking for close to an hour, but still she kept going.

"Are we almost there?" I whispered, glancing behind us.

"Yes, we are close." There was something strange in her voice. She sounded...impatient? No. It was anticipation.

"You said that he was somewhere near the safe zone, right?" I asked.

"Yes, yes. Near the safe zone. Hurry up!" I frowned at the back of her head.

"You know, I never did ask for your name." She stopped mid-stride.

"My name. Oh yes, you never did ask for it, did you?" She turned around and smiled. It was not a kind or shy that I had seen before. No, this one left me greatly perturbed. "My name is Thana."

My eyes practically popped out of my skull. I leapt back, unsheathing my sword and pointing it at the girl. I knew that name. I'm sure everyone in the entire game knows that name. Seeing me jump back, her smile becomes maniacal.

"I see you realize just who I am," she says playfully, though her voice sounded anything but pleasant.

"You're the leader of Hades' Revenant!" I accused, cursing myself for not asking for her name earlier. No one had ever seen her face, those that did didn't see much of anything afterwards. All that was known about her was her player ID. I had fallen into her trap. She takes a step forward and I take an instinctive step back. She smirks at that.

"My reputation precedes me," she said, a sadistic grin splaying across her face.

"Why have you brought me here?" I tried to discretely open my menu and grab a teleport crystal, but just as I raised my off hand and arrow pierced right through my hand.

"Now, now," she said, watching in sick pleasure as I cried out in shock and pain. "It's not rude to leave a your own party."

"What are you talking about?" I growled, ripping the arrow from my hand.

She just grins and snaps her fingers. All at once, dozens of players step out from hidden alcoves and passages. Archers could be seen standing over the cliffs, their bows aimed right at me. They all had dark blue armor and clothes with blood red highlights. A symbol of a bloody helmet adorning their gear, I was completely surrounded.

"As you can see, there are a lot of people who are just _dying_ to meet you."

"Har, har," I laughed sarcastically, glancing warily at those surrounding me. "Why am I here?"

"Well you see, little phantom" -she opens her own menu and equips a dark blue thieves garb with a red belt and black boots- "we've been offered a lot of money to get you here."

"And why is that?" I asked warily, clutching my blade tightly. Her grin becomes even larger than before.

"Why, to kill you of course." I immediately heard rapid footsteps from behind me. Instinctively I spun around, swinging my sword, and a broad sword that was aiming to split me down the middle. Not even thinking I brought my sword back around and left a large gash against his chest. He stumbled back and fell flat on his ass. I turned back around and gave the slightly seething Thana.

"Well? Get him!" she shouted at her guild and they all descended upon me.

I am proud to say that I lasted a full ten minutes before I was taken down. They came at me like a wave a sharp metal. They gave me no chance to open my menu and grab a teleport crystal. I was on the complete defensive as swords, axes, and arrows rained down upon me.

Despite dodging the best I could, I took hit after hit as the sheer number of attacks had begun to wear me down. I dealt damage as well, don't get me wrong, but I also instinctively held back, a part of me not wanting to take the life as another player. However, they held no such reluctance.

My health was soon wavering in the yellow, slowly edging towards the red. Just as I managed to send two players stumbling back a sharp pain cut through my mid-back. Turning around I saw Thana smiling evilly at me, her knife buried to the hilt in my back. I tried to raise my sword and strike her when my body suddenly seized. I tried to move my body even an inch, but it was as if a hand was compressing my entire body, keeping me firmly in place. From the corner of my eye I saw a small yellow square with a black lightning bolt symbol in the center. Her knife had paralyzed.

She chuckled darkly at my frozen form. With a swift kick, she sent me sprawling across the ground. I could do nothing but lay there helplessly as the entire dark guild leered down at me.

"Oh how the mighty of fallen," Thana said, causing everyone to laugh loudly.

"Who put you up to this?" I growled from my place on the ground.

"Sorry, but we don't reveal our clients," she said almost happily.

"Now, now. I think you can make an exception," an eerily familiar voice said from somewhere in the crowd. Straining to look to where the voice had come from, my heart plummets upon seeing a familiar head of greasy close-cropped black hair. Stepping from the crowd, garbed in a blood red chest plate, a large great ax strapped to his back, and a red cursor of his head was Dagur, grinning down at me with an expression of sadistic delight.

"Well, well, well. What _do_ we have here?" he said.

"Dagur," I growled.

"You remember me. Good." His smile turns into a twisted scowl and he kicked me hard in the side. I grunted at the impact, but refused to cry out in pain. "I've waited a long time for this." He then preceded to kick me over and over, enunciating his word as he does it. "You. Have. Been. A. Thorn. In. My. Side. From. Day. One!"

"You did that to yourself," I growled out. While his kicks weren't doing damage to my health bar, they still hurt.

"Shut up! It's your fault that I was forced out here! Away from the towns. Away from the players that came to my beck and call!" he shouted angrily.

"So now you have to hire murderers to do bow down to you. Just how narcissistic are you?" My cheek earned my a kick to my head that had me seeing stars. By the time my vision came back to me, Dagur had his ax an inch above my throat.

"I'm going to cut off this problem at the head," he said.

"Wow, good joke. How long did it take you to come up with that one?" Several members of Hades' Revenant laughed openly at that, causing Dagur to glare heatedly at them.

"Shut up! This is a serious-!" Dagur's rant was cut short when Thana's dagger pressed against his throat.

"Don't presume that you can order around my guild," she said darkly, her eyes frigid as a glacier. "You just paid us to get him here and get him weak enough for you to finish him off. You have no say in what do or do not do. Understood?"

"Understood," the ax wielder said meekly. The knife wielder removed her knife from his neck, allowing him to breath easier. Regaining his composure, Dagur turned back to me a glared. "Now where was I?"

"I believe you were about to let me go and turn yourself in," I said. He grinned evilly.

"Nice try, but no." He raised his ax over his head. "You humiliated me, shamed me, and ran me out of town. I became an outcast, forced to survive in the monster filled wilderness. It was all because of you and I will have me revenge. I'm going to kill you now and permanently end your existence!"

I glared defiantly at the ax wielder. I refused to look away or beg for life. I didn't want him to have the satisfaction. He began to swing his ax, his eye burning with pure hatred. Just as the ax was parallel to his chest an arrow cut through the air and slammed into his chest.

"GAH!" he shouted in pain and surprise. He dropped his ax, causing it to land an inch next to my head, thankfully. Before anyone could act a battle cry rang out.

"Players...CHARGE!" The sound of multiple feet slamming into the earth met my ears. Forcing my head to comply, I saw the entirety of the floor raiding party, plus a few others, charging through the canyon, their weapons waving madly. Above us, Hades' Revenant's archers were being assaulted by other players, forcing them into unfavorable hand to hand combat. Before I even could comprehend what was happening, the party slammed into Hades' Revenant.

It was pure chaos, players were attacking players. Humans attacking Humans. As the battle ensued, I had thought that they were just aiming for beating the players into submission, but then I heard the first cry followed by a burst of pixels and I knew that that wasn't the case. This was an elimination mission.

"DJ!" Raven shouted, kneeling next to me. She pulled out a green crystal and crushed it over me, spreading green dust onto my prone form. All at once the tension in my body loosened, allowing me to move my limbs.

"Raven? What's...?"

"After you left with that girl I noticed a tattoo on her bicep. After asking around about it, I found out that it was the symbol for Hades Revenant!"

"Yeah, I kind of realized that when she tried to kill me." Another scream and a burst pixels and another player was gone. "What's all this?" Raven's expression turned sour.

"When I brought this up to Lancelot and the other guild leaders that this would be the perfect opportunity to strike a huge blow against the dark guilds."

"So you guys just let me walk off with the _leader_ of one of the deadliest dark guilds?!" I asked incredulously, wincing as another player was killed.

"I didn't have a say in the matter. It was Lancelot's decision..." She stood up and offered me a hand. "Come one we need to- GAH!"

Raven cried in pain when an ax slammed into her side. Following the ax to its wielder, I saw Dagur glaring at her, a deranged look in his eye.

"You helped him take away my power!" he said, sounding as even more insane than he actually was. "You will suffer the same fate!" He raised his ax to hit her again and I saw red.

"NO!" I roared, grabbing my sword and surging to my feet. He turned towards me to sneer, but his expression was quickly replaced by one of shock as my blade pierced through his stomach. Looking up at his face I saw that his health bar was dropping from the yellow into the red. I had not realized that his health had been so low and before I could pull my sword out from his body, his health reached zero.

"Damn...you," he muttered before he too burst into pixels and my previously yellow cursor turned red.

I stood there shell-shocked. I had killed someone. Not a monster, but a player. A human being that became trapped in a video game just like me and I had killed him. I was roused from my vegetative state by a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"DJ," Raven whispered consolingly. "We have to help."

"I killed someone," I whispered. "I just killed someone."

"I know, but if you don't pull yourself together, more people will die today. Good people. The people who came to save you," she said.

I knew she was right, but it did nothing to combat the overwhelming guilt that was eating away at my heart. I took a deep breath a temporarily squashed that feeling down and gripped my sword tightly.

"Right, we've got a job to do," I said. Raven nodded towards me and we both leapt into the fray.

-Virtual-

Two minutes. That's how long it took us to take a force that was originally close to thirty strong down to five. We had carved through the dark guild taking minimal casualties on our side. Lancelot had even killed Thana. The five that were left quickly surrendered when it became apparent that they were losing.

While we had won the battle, we had truly lost. All of us were now murders. Despite the justified reasons, we had all taken the lives of another player. We were all red players now. No one was speaking. There were no cheers, no shouts of triumph, no nothing. There was only solemn silence.

Looking around I saw Raven was curled up in the corner. Despite her earlier words it was clear that she was simply putting on a brave face. We all were. I walked over to her with the intention of at least attempting to console her. She looked up at me with tear filled eyes and I couldn't resist hugging her.

"DJ...we...I." She was so choked up that she couldn't form a sentence. I just held her tighter, whispering soothing words to her. "I know we had to do it, but...but it still hurts."

"Raven..."

"I mean, they were horrible people so I shouldn't feel guilty right? So why do I?" she rambled on.

"Raven..."

"They were players too. Humans just like us. Even if they've done things that warranted death, doesn't mean that we should have decid-MMPH!" I cut her off by boldly pressing my lips against hers, effectively silencing her. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it caused both of our faces to burn red.

"You talk too much," I whispered.

"Yeah," Raven murmured, resting her head on my shoulder.

I looked over at the other players who were now consoling each other. We would be okay. We would pull through this. Eventually...


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Game Over

 **May 15th, 2027**

 **Boss Room, Floor 75**

It was that day. That day when everything fell apart. The day where it all came to an end.

We were making are way into the room that held the third quarter boss. There were very few of us, maybe sixty at best. Many players, after the battle with Mars, had become reluctant to even leave the towns let alone go out to take on a floor boss. As such we had the least amount of players we have ever had in any boss raid. Despite this, we -meaning Lancelot and his guild- gathered up all those that were willing to fight and headed off to the boss room.

We all stood crowded around in a dimly lit cave with large double doors that would lead us to the boss. All of us wore grim expressions though many tried to mask them with looks of confidence. They were all conversing with friends and guild members, attempting to reassure each other. Like usual, I stood off on the side, watching them interact, my heart aching. Sometimes I wished that I would've had the chance to join a guild, but me taking the role of a scapegoat killed those chances. If only things had been different...

I jumped when a delicate hand touched my shoulder. Spinning around I saw Raven, Uno, Reaper, Kent, and Aegis all standing behind me, smiling reassuringly at me. Shock colored my face before a grin broke out on my face. I remembered that I wasn't alone. I had friends by my side.

A thunderous boom echoed through the dim cavern as Lancelot slammed his shield against the ground, gaining our attention. Without a word, Lancelot nodded to everyone and pushed open the doors.

Inside was a large platform standing in the middle of a great chasm. A thin stone bridge lead to the platform. Glancing over the edge I was met with never ending inky blackness. Swallowing hard I made a mental note to stay away from the edge at all times.

We crossed the bridge cautiously, afraid that the boss would jump out when we least expected it. But it never appeared. We made it to the center of the platform, but nothing appeared. There were tall torch stands surrounding the outer rim of the platform, but they remained unlit. We all waited with bated breath for the boss to appear. We waited a minute. Two. Three. Four. Nothing.

"Where is it?" a player asked fearfully.

I couldn't help but wonder the same thing. Where was this thing? We had been waiting for practically five minutes and still it didn't appear. Then I noticed something. A dark almost unnoticeable shift in the shadows on the right of the platform. Turning towards the shift I saw a large area that looked darker than the other shadows that covered the walls. I squinted at it discoloration, trying to figure out what I was seeing. That was when a single golden dot appeared towards the summit of the discoloration followed by a unnerving smile that looked like an upside down crescent moon.

I only had time to shout a quick "LOOK OUT" when the creature lunged forward.

The creature swept forward like a ghost at startling speeds. Something flashed in its hands followed by the sound of something cutting through the air. On instinct, most of us dove to the ground, feeling whatever it was rush through the air just above us, sending wind rippling through our hair. Unfortunately, not everyone had fast reflexes.

Three players were not able to move in time and as the creature flew past them, an invisible blade slashed through their bodies and tossed them into the air. The trio screamed with a mixture of pain and shock. We could only watch in horror as all of their health bars swiftly deplete, leaving them with nothing. With a final scream, the three players burst into pixels, leaving the room in dead silence.

The creature circled back around before stopping several feet away from the platform. At the same time, the torches burst with bright purple lights. The light illuminated the creature that had just killed three of our players.

The creature was nearly twenty feet tall and covered completely with a long black tattered cloak that had a hood that covered the creature's bowed head. In the creature's skeleton like hands was a long twenty twenty two foot scythe with an eight foot long jagged blade. The figure raised its head revealing a porcelain masked sculpted with a permanent smile over the mouth and an empty eye hole.

I could feel the creature's gaze moving over us even though there was no visible eye. It then began to giggle. A cold and chilling giggle that steadily evolved into chuckling then into full blown laughter that shook its entire body. Six health bars appeared by its head followed by a name that hovered over its cackling head.

 _Giggling Reaper._

Still laughing, its eye flashed gold before lunging at out group, its scythe posed to cut us all in half.

"Scatter!" the ever calm Lancelot shouted, snapping players into action.

Most tried to avoid the reaper, but some attempted to block his attack with their own. This worked for some, but the weaker players were literally blown away from the force of the attack. Several players were sent skidding across the platform, two of which fell of the edge, screaming their lungs out as they fell. Five down and fifty five to go.

"Everybody, hold firm!" Lancelot shouted, rallying the scrambling players.

"I can't take it, man!" a random player with short dirty blond hair and fear filled brown eyes shouted before running to the bridge, most likely forgetting that the doors locked upon entering. He had just made it to the bridge when the reaper struck again.

Giggling Reaper flew overhead, completely ignoring us and shot towards the bridge and the player. The player looked over his shoulder and shrieked shrilly when he saw what was beyond him. He quickly dove to the side to avoid the scythe aiming to cut him in two. The blade kept going and slammed into the stone bridge. Spiderweb cracks spread across the bridge from where the scythe impacted before the entire bridge shattered like glass.

The laughing reaper slowly turned its head and faced the terrified player, its golden eye flashing madly. It raised its scythe high above its head, cackling evilly as it stared down at the petrified player. Just as it was about to bring down its blade and kill the player, I raced forward with speeds that only Silfarion could grant and plunged my blade into the masked reaper's chest.

The force of my attack was able to shove the reaper away from the player, sparing him from the reaper's immediate attention. The reaper regarded me with its single glowing eye. It still cackled that unnerving cackle yet I swore I could see a glimmer of fury over being denied its prey flash in its eye. It raised its blade once more, this time its attention focused on me. I brought up my own sword, putting myself in front of the still terrified player. Just as the reaper was going to attack me, several arrows and spells shot through the air and slammed into the reaper's side.

The boss' back arched slightly from the pain and force of the attacks, but it never stopped laughing. Giggling Reaper turned to face the group and raised it scythe. It then flew forward at the group with its scythe already swinging.

Shield bearers made their way to the front of the group and raised their shields, taking the boss' attack. The line of shields was pushed back slightly from the sheer strength of the laughing monster, but they held firm. With the creature momentarily held in check, the close range fighters rushed around them and began to attack the monster.

Just as they were beginning to attack the boss, it recovered. After a few hits it swung its scythe, cutting into several players bodies, dealing a substantial amount of damage by just grazing them.

I jumped into the fray, delivering several gashes across the reaper's back with a well placed sword skill. Just as I touched back down onto the ground, Giggling Reaper spun around faster than I thought possible and slashed me viciously across the chest, sending me crashing to the ground. Groaning in pain, I glanced at my health bar that I was at half health with just one strike. I was then forced to roll away as the demented reaper attempted to stab me while I was down.

Thankfully, the other players jumped in and attacked the reaper, momentarily taking the creature's attention off me. I quickly popped a potion while the monster was distracted before leaping back into the fight.

After several minutes of just hacking at the creature, it flew straight up out of the range of our attacks. It looked down at us with its glowing eye and once more broke out in cacophonous laughter over us not being able to reach it.

"Archers! Mages! Fire!" Lancelot shouted.

Heeding his words all long range players began to rain down spells and arrows down on the boss. Even I joined in with my elemental attacks along with others that were able to get the elemental weapon skills. The reaper, almost as if not caring about our attacks, began to shift from side to side, dodging the majority of our attacks though it did take damage.

I was confused on what the boss was trying to do. It knew that we were doing damage, but it wasn't retaliating. What was it planning?

I soon got my answer as it shifted its scythe over one shoulder, both hands gripping the blade as if to cut something in front of it. Golden energy began to lick across the blade like flames across an oil soaked rag. My eyes widened when I realized what was going on.

"EVERYBODY WATCH OUT!" No sooner had I said that, Giggling Reaper began to swing his scythe rapidly, sending out blades of golden energy at us.

We all scrambled around trying to avoid the blades. I did my best to avoid the attacks or block them with my sword, but even I got hit. I heard screams of pain and despair from all around me, but I couldn't afford to look around. I heard the tell tale bursts of dying players, but still, I refused to look.

Finally the attack ended and we had a chance to breathe. Looking around I saw that three players had been killed by the boss' barrage. Looking back at the boss I saw that five health bars still remained. We had a long way to go before we beat this thing.

Giggling Reaper's laughter reached new heights as it hefted its scythe and charged us once more. Malice and bloodlust pouring from its glowing eye.

-Virtual-

Giggling Reaper reeled back in pain as the last of his health was depleted. A large crack split down the length of the porcelain mask as the reaper fell backwards. Even as it died, the reaper still laughed its bone chilling laugh as if it were joyous that it had killed so many of us. With a final laugh, its mask shattered and his body soon followed. We had one, yet we lost.

Looking around, I saw that out of the forty five that our group only sixteen or so of us were left standing. We had lost about seventy five percent of our group and while I was grateful that it wasn't more, but it was still a blow. Everyone's health was dropped to either the yellow or red and all were in various stages of depression.

"That was horrible," one player whispered in horror.

"That was only the seventy fifth boss," another said. "We still have twenty five more floors to go."

"How are we going to get through this?"

I found myself asking myself the same thing. If players were scared to fight these bosses now, chances were that no one would want to participate. We would never get through floor one hundred.

I allowed my gaze to wander, sighing in relief when I saw my friends, looking a little worse for where, but safe nonetheless, before my eyes landed on Lancelot. He was standing proud over what was left of his guild. My eyes narrowed when I noted his health bar.

It was green.

Not yellow or red like everybody else, but green.

I racked my brain for images of Lancelot fighting. Throughout the entire fight, I never saw his health go past green and I definitely never saw him being healed or taking a potion. So why was his health still green?

A sudden burst of inspiration shot through me, lifting me to my feet and leading me to draw my blade. Many players gave me questioning looks before the cried out in shock when I ran at Lancelot with inhuman speeds. He only had time to turn towards me and widen his eyes before my sword was baring down on his neck.

*Clang*

My sword was stopped by a purple shield that read 'Immortal Object'.

Silence ensued. Everybody stared at us in a mixture of shock, anger, and betrayal. The shield faded, and a stepped back, glaring heatedly at Lancelot. Lancelot, for his part, remained stoic as he met my gaze.

"How did you know?" he asked, his voice revealing nothing.

"Your health never dropped below green through the entire fight," I said with a scowl. "There's no way a normal player could do that. So what are you? Some kind of NPC?"

At that Lancelot laughed a loud belly laugh. Despite the amusement in his voice, all of us were put on edge. When he finally stopped laughing he looked at me with an amused look as if I were a puppy that just barked for him.

"An NPC? Do you really think so lowly of me? No, I play a _much_ more intensive role in this world." He gave me a piercing look. "Can you tell me who I am?"

I frowned for a minute in contemplation. He was obviously a player, or at least a real person. He was obviously someone important for Harrison to have given them invulnerability. So who could he be...

My eyes widened in sudden realization and I took a step back.

"Your him," I said, my voice hardly above a whisper. "You're Kane Harrison."

As if some switch had been flicked, everyone was on their feet, weapons drawn, and staring hatefully at the knight. The now identified Kane Harrison chuckled lowly at our reaction, before walking towards the shattered bridge. Turning to face us once more he smiled almost invitingly at us.

"Yes, I am Kane Harrison," he said. "I was hoping to reveal myself much later as a surprise twist to the game. Picture it, the peoples champion whom everyone adores turns out to be the one that trapped them here in the first place and is the hundredth floor boss to boot." His smile became slightly more deranged, much like some of the red players that we had fought. "It would have been an amazing twist. But you" -He pointed at me with a mock scolding tone- "had to go and ruin it."

"You bastard," I heard Reaper growl from behind me.

"Though I suppose I can't very well let you leave, now that you know my secret," Kane said. He raised his hand, causing all of us to tense, and snapped his fingers. At first nothing happened. Then, all at once, seven beams of light erupted around us. When the light faded seven figures stood in their places.

The figures wore pitch black armor with golden highlights, much like Kane's own armor. They each held black shields with gold crosses and silvery longs swords that with golden script running down the length of the blades. Their faces were completely covered by banded visors that shielded their eyes and expressions.

"I do apologize," he said, not sounding apologetic at all. "I had hoped that at least a few of you would make it to the final boss, after all, I was looking forward to fighting a few of you, but a lass..." He snapped his fingers once more and the knights began to slowly advance.

"So that's it then?" I demanded, my mind racing. "You're just going to kill us? Where's the fun in that?"

"Well, as I said, I can't very well let you all live now that you know of my secret," Kane said, his gaze unwavering.

"Well why not fight us now? This would be the perfect time. If we lose, we die anyway. What have you got to lose?"

The game designer placed two fingers against his chin in apparent thought. The knights began to close in, forcing us to move closer to one another, forming a circle in order to keep the knights in sight. Just as the knights came within striking distance, Kane snapped his fingers once more, causing them to pause.

"I suppose you are right," he said to me. He flicked his hand out, opening his menu and pressed a few buttons. A bright light emanated from his form before it faded. "It would be rather boring if you all were to just die. I have turned off my immortality status so now I can take damage. I'll even make it so that if you kill me, I end SAO right here and now." Several players grinned and took a step forward to attack before Kane spoke again. "However! It would be unfair to take part in a fight with such outnumbering odds. So..." He snapped his fingers again and all hell broke loose.

Several players cried out in shock and pain as the knights cut into their bodies while others were able to block the attacks. My eyes had been firmly fixed on Kane's smug form and was blindsided by one of the knights. I stumbled back, reeling, and was forced to bring up my sword to defend against one of the knights. Likewise, the other players all engaged the knights with weapon skills and the few spells that were available.

We were in a very bad way. We had used up most if not all of our health and mana potions during the fight with Giggling Reaper, not to mention that the archers had used the majority of their arrows. We were not prepared to engage in another battle like this.

I watched two or three players broke from the group and ran at Kane. I wanted to shout out to them, to warn them to be careful, but I didn't dare take my eyes off the knight I was fighting. Kane most likely knew every weapon skill in the game and could easily counter them, this was most likely how he was able to fight players while sustaining minimal damage. If we wanted to beat Kane we would have to use nothing but pure skill. I wanted to go an help those that went after Kane, but I had to deal with the knight currently attacking me.

I ducked under a blade and tried to stab the knight, but was stopped by its shield. The knights had a similar fighting style to Kane. They both utilized their swords and their shields to attack as well as defend. It was a very annoying style, but thankfully, these knights weren't nearly as fast as Kane.

I swiftly ducked under the knight's arm ans plunged my blade into its side. It arched in pain, but didn't make a sound. It spun around, swinging its sword as it did, and I ducked under the swing before humping straight up, dragging my sword across the knights flank. The knight once more reared back in pain before it burst into pixels. Before I could congratulate myself, a beam of light erupted from my life. I just had time to turn towards the light before I had to jump back to avoid a sword from the new knight that had appeared.

The knights respawned after you beat them! I grit my teeth in anger and frustration as I fought. If these things appeared as soon as one was defeated, there was no way we could beat them. If we wanted to win, we would have to attack Kane himself.

However, that was easier said than done.

Knowing that I had to get to Kane in order to end this battle, I tried to circumvent the knight, but it blocked me at every turn. Getting frustrated, I attacked it with a sword skill, slashing it multiple times. I scored multiple hits on the armored fiend, but my last one was deflected by its shield. Pushed off balance, I was left wide open to a vicious slash down my back.

I stumbled forward, my body still out of my control until the system cool down was lifted. I saw from the corner of my eye the knight lunging for me. Right before it could make a shish kebab out of me, Reaper was suddenly in front of me, his blade still sheathed. With a swift swipe, Reaper unsheathed his blade, which had taken on a red light, and cut the knight in half. With a silent cry of pain, the knight was destroyed.

"One down!" he shouted triumphantly, not noticing the light that signified a knight spawning.

Feeling my body come back under my control I knew I had to act fast as the knight was no charging the still oblivious Reaper. Using the last bit of my mana, I channeled air magic down the length of my blade and launched a sky blue blade of wind at the newly spawned knight. The wind blade tore through the air, carving a path through the stone of the platform, and slammed into the knight before it could reach my samurai friend. The knight was sent flying back from the force of the attack and was thrown over the side of the platform.

Reaper had whirled around just as the knight had been thrown by my wind. He gave me a grateful look which soon became solemn when yet another knight formed.

"If you kill one, another will take its place," I said, leveling my sword at the new night.

"I can see that," Reaper quipped. A sudden chorus of screams tore our gazes away from the knight and towards the other end of the platform where almost all of the spell casters had just been destroyed by the advancing knights.

"Dammit," I said, turning back around and glaring at the knight in front of me. "This won't end until we take down Kane.

"I'm on it!" Aegis voice rang out as he ran past both me and Reaper.

"Aegis, wait!" I shouted. I tried to run after him, but a knight got in my way. In desperation I shouted, "He made the game, so he most likely knows every skill in the game!"

I'm not sure if he heard me or not. I couldn't check as I was being pushed back by the knight before me. All I could do was hope for the best.

Turning my attention back to the knight that was still attempting to cleave me in two, I gave a strong push, shoving it away from me and into Reaper's glowing blade. With several flashes, Reaper ended his skill by sheathing his sword. All at once multiple red gashes appeared on the knights visage. It stumbled a bit, but did not die. Seeking to finish it, I dashed forward and decapitated the knight, sending it to oblivion.

I immediately ran off towards where Kane and Aegis were currently fighting, trusting that Reaper would be able to handle the knight that was spawning. Even from where I was, I saw that it was a poor match-up. Kane had both the defensive and reach advantage over Aegis who was valiantly dodging Kane's blade to the best of his abilities, but it was clear who would win the fight should it continue. As an open handed monk, Aegis relied on getting in close and dealing devastating blows, but against a fully armored and surprisingly swift guardian style player like Kane, he had little to no chance. There were two other players helping him, but I knew that they would not be enough. As I tried to get to them and assist, but my way was blocked by yet another faceless knight.

"Get out of my way!" I growled, trying to muscle my way past the knight. Unfortunately, I my strength is in speed, not muscle and the knight was able to push me back.

Filled with unbelievable frustration, I attacked like wild animal denied food. Silfarion was now just a deadly arch of pure death as I carved through the knight. It did its best to block my attacks with its shield, but it couldn't keep up with my speed. I had almost killed it when it happened.

A shout then tore through the cavern and my blood ran cold. I recognized that voice, yet I hoped to whatever god there was that I was wrong. I chanced a look and saw that Kane had just leveled one of the players that he had been fighting against. A second later, I realized that that player was Aegis.

Not even caring about the knight I was fighting, I ran towards my friend. I heard the sound of something tearing through the air just over my head. On pure instinct I swung my blade behind me and felt the satisfying feeling of my blade felling another enemy. With nothing to stand in my way, I ran to help my friend.

Just reaching him, I raced to Aegis' side and pulled out my last potion. Kneeling by his side I made to pour it down my throat when his hand grabbed my wrist. I gave him a confused and worried look, but he just smiled sadly.

"You'll need it more than me," he rasped, his voice cracking, whether from emotion or pain, I'm not sure. "Promise me you'll get them out."

"Aegis..."

"Promise me!" I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes as Aegis health faded to nothing.

"I promise." He smiled and burst into pixels. He was gone.

Rage coursed through my veins over the death of my friend. The sounds of the others that were fighting Kane reached my ears and my goal was clear. I downed the potion in my hand and got to my feet. I glared hatefully at Kane, who was in the process of slashing through another player, and charged.

Kane had just turned his head when my blade cut through his chest. His eyes widened in shock before they hardened into chips. He pushed me back with his shield, causing me to stumble slightly, before swinging his sword at me. I rolled to the side and slashed at the game creator as I came to a kneel. Kane slammed his shield against the ground, right next to his own leg, blocking my strike. Arm ringing from the jarring hit, I was unprepared for the armor clad boot slam into my chin. Flung backwards, I landed ruffly onto my back. Still dazed, I instinctively rolled to the side and narrowly avoided the blade that sunk into the ground where I had once been.

Scrambling to my feet, I blocked Kane's sword as it attempted to bisect me, but I was unable to stop Kane's shield from smacking me over the head. Struggling to shake the stars from my eyesight, I slashed wildly, attempting to ward against Kane approaching. Unfortunately, Kane was not deterred and cut me across my chest before punching his shield into my gut.

Spit flew from my mouth as I was thrown several feet. I stayed on my feet, but I was having a hard time breathing normally. Kane didn't help by charging me once more. I was forced on the defensive as Kane attacked like a whirlwind using his sword and shield in perfect tandem. I was hard pressed to defend myself against his relentless onslaught. I deflected and dodged like I had never done before. Even so, I received substantial damage. I attempted to throw in my own attacks, but Kane deflected all of my attacks. I tried to get around him, but he would intercept me and trap me in the same dance as before.

He was outclassing me in skill. He obviously had the edge as he created the game, but I had no idea he would be this good. Maybe it was because part of me still saw him as human and not another monster. Memories of our encounter with the red guilds made me hesitate when opening appeared. Even after everything Kane had done, part of me still was reluctant to kill another human.

I chanced look behind me, hoping for some sort of support, but they were all busy with the knights. The number of players fighting the knights had greatly diminished, leaving only ten that I could see. I saw Kent and Reaper fighting back to back. Uno was attempting to distribute potions among those while shoot crossbow bolts we able. I couldn't see Raven at all.

Unfortunately, the second long look proved to be a mistake. Just as I turned back to Kane, his blade had slashed through my chest. Not even giving me time to recover, he spun around and slammed his shield against the side of me face, sending me crashing to the ground.

Dazed, I could only stare helplessly from my place on the ground as Kane stood over me. A triumphant smirk on his face.

"Well, I can't say that this isn't a welcome sight," Kane said superiorly. "You should know by now, Phantom, never take your eyes off an opponent." He placed his sword just under my chin, his smirk telling me that he was enjoying this. "Shame that your story ends now."

He raised his sword high in the air, the blade taking on a blood red aura as he activated a sword skill. I tried to move my body, but I found that I was unable to move. I continued to glare defiantly at Kane, refusing to give him the satisfaction of me begging for my life, not that it would have done any good.

"This is your end!" Kane swung his sword down to snuff out my life and I could do nothing to stop him. As the blade drew nearer and nearer my life flashed before my eyes. I saw scenes of me with my family and friends even my time within SAO. I knew that those that I cared about would mourn my death, but I couldn't help but feel a strange feeling of serenity. It was as if all my cares and worries were melting off me under my emanate death. I had begun to accept my fate when someone jumped in front of me.

My eyes widened in horror as Kane's blade cut through Raven's body. It was as if time itself stopped. I could no longer hear sounds of fighting, no shouts of anger or fear, nothings. Just dead silence.

Raven fell backwards, her mouth open as if screaming in pain, yet no sound escaped her lips. I suddenly gained movement in my body and I leapt to my feet and caught Raven before she could fall. I could only watch helplessly as the last of her health was depleted her, signifying the end of her time in the game. Her time in life.

Tears spilled from my eyes, falling uselessly against Raven's face. I was so lost. We had grown so close and now she was being torn from me. I couldn't take it.

A soft hand drew me to her face and I saw the sad smile that was covering her face. Tears were falling from her eyes as well. I grasped her hand like a lifeline, unwilling to let her go.

"Please, don't go," I begged, not caring if my words were useless. I didn't want to lose her.

"Sorry, but it looks like my time" -Her body began to glow with that all to familiar light- "is over." With that, she burst into pixels along with my heart.

I tried to grab onto the fading pixels as they floated to the sky, but they faded at my touch. She was gone. Gone forever.

"Well that was unexpected," Kane laughed. "Who would have guessed that she would have impeded my attempts in such a way. Ah well. All she did was prolong your life momentarily. In the end, her attempts were meaningless."

At that something snapped in my head. It was if an invisible switch had been flipped in my head that shut down my emotions. I was angry, I knew I was, yet I couldn't feel it. I slowly got up, my off hand gripping on the blade that Raven had dropped. The one that we got from Yatagarasu all those months ago.

"Oh? Have some fight left in you do you?" Kane asked, noticing that I had stood. When I didn't answer, he tilted his head. "Hmm, no response? Are you so consumed in your anger that you can't even form coherent sentences?"

I didn't respond. I didn't have to. There was no need to talk now. My mind was surprisingly clear. I knew what had to be done. I raised my head and locked my most likely dead eyes with Kane's black ones. There was not need to waste words on a monster.

"What's with that look?" the monster said with a chuckle. "What, upset that she di-URK!" His words were cut off when Silfarion plunged into his chest. He looked at me in shock before the look became one of pain when Yatagarasu flashed over his face, leaving a long red line across his cheek.

Kane quickly got over his surprise and glared heatedly at me. He swung his sword at me, but I deflected it with a swing from Silfarion. With my left hand, I switched Yatagarasu into a reverse grip and swung at Kane, only to meet his shield. As if moving on autopilot, my body spun and slammed into the shield again with both Silfarion and Yatagarasu.

With the combined force of my attacks, caused Kane to grunt as he was forcibly moved across the ground. Still moving, I chased after him and slashed downwards with both blades, leaving a 'x' shaped gash across his front.

Kane grit his teeth in pain from my attack. With a swing of his arm, he brought his blade down upon me. I brought up my right arm and matched his sword with my own. Using my other hand a stabbed at the monster before me, only for his shield to knock my arm aside. Pushing past my blade he left a large gash down my front.

Even though I felt the blade pierce my body through the pain sensors, I gave no reaction. I was to far gone into whatever emotion was controlling my body. I swung my sword at Kane, surprising him with my lack of response to his attack, and carved through his torso. Not stopping, I brought up Yatagarasu and stabbed him in the side with it before he pushed me away with his shield.

The two of us slashed and hacked at the other, dealing damage to both our persons. Everything else around us no longer mattered. The past didn't matter. All that mattered was killing the one another and I was all to happy to oblige. I'm not sure how long we fought for but by the end of it we were both in the red.

Kane's eyes were crazed, most likely from being pushed so close to death. My gaze remained steely, though my strength was slowly leaving me. We were both reaching our limits.

With a shout, Kane charged at me, a promise of death clear in his eyes. I met his gaze and ran at him as well, releasing all my pent up emotions that I had thought lost to me in a single roar. As we neared each other, I saw Kane's shield speeding towards me, the same time he drew back his sword to stab me. Switching the course of my right arm, I swung at the shield and knocked his arm to the side. His eyes widened, but he could not stop his momentum and continued to stab at me. At the same time, I reared back my left hand and plunged Yatagarasu into his stomach the same time Kane's pierced my own.

I flinched when his sword went through my body, a mirroring flash of pain flickered across Kane's face. All my energy was gone. I had nothing left, only enough to keep my blade in Kane's stomach. Glancing up, I saw both Kane's and my health bars drop to nothing and relief flooded through me.

"It's over," I whispered.

"It would appear so," Kane said, sounding surprisingly calm. "You have won. The game is over."

I let out a breath that I didn't know I had been holding. It was all over. I looked down at Raven's blade and smiled fondly at it, thinking of Raven and how I could not have done it without her. And with that, my body shone brightly and I knew no more.

-Virtual-

I felt my consciousness come back to me and opened my eyes. I was laying down in midair as if it were solid ground. All around me was the orange skies of sunset. Great fluffy clouds were rolling lazily past and the sun was shining brightly.

I was confused. Hadn't I died? Was this heaven? I looked down at myself and saw that I was still decked out in my silver cloak. This couldn't be heaven because I was still in my SAO clothes. Not that they weren't amazing clothes, but still. So that begged the question, where was I?

"DJ?" I turned towards the sudden voice and was stunned by who I saw. Standing there, decked in dark purple clothes with raven hair flowing in the wind, forming a halo above her, was Raven.

Tears began to cascade down my face like twin waterfalls. Not even consciously aware of what I was doing, I had gotten up and all but ran at her. She let out a surprised, and rather cute, squeak when I hugged her tightly. I cried like a baby on her shoulder as I embraced her. I was so happy that she was alive that I couldn't control myself. After a few seconds, Raven returned my embrace just as tightly. I could feel something wet roll down the back of my neck, but I ignored it.

"Is this real?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting this moment to be all a dream. She chuckled lightly.

"Yes, this is real." My embrace tightened a little.

"How is this possible? You died. I died..."

"Wait, you died?" She pushed away so she could look at me and I saw the tear tracks going down her face.

"Yeah, I died as I killed Kane Harrison."

"So you beat the game?"

"I guess..."

"That's good," she said warmly. "But if we're both dead...does that mean that this is heaven?"

"No, it is not," said a familiar voice from our left. Turning in the direction of the voice we were shocked to see Kane Harrison himself standing before us, an unreadable expression on his face.

"You!" I shouted, leaping to my feet and shoving Raven behind me. I had no sword, but I refused to let that bastard take Raven away from me again!

"Do not worry, I mean you no harm." I snorted disbelievingly.

"Says the guy that trapped thousands of people in a _death_ game!"

"While that is true, the game is over. Even now, all surviving players are meaning disconnected from the nerve gear and are waking up in the real world," Kane said.

"And those that didn't survive?" Raven questioned.

"As I said on the first day, all those that have perished in the game have perished in the real world." Kane answered.

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you do all this?"

"Why?" he asked pensively. "I truly do not know why. It started as my desire to make a world of my own. To make a perfect world without the corruption of the real world. Maybe I became consumed by the power that came with creating such a thing, becoming a god in my own right, but I do not recall."

"Where are we?" Raven questioned.

"The in between. Because you only recently died, you are trapped in a sort of limbo if you will. Once SAO fully shuts down, you will fade as well."

"And you?" I questioned.

"I am like any other player," he said. "As I died in the game, so shall I die in reality."

"You don't sound upset about that," Raven pointed out.

"No, I am not," he said, a small smile forming on his face. "For some reason, I cannot find a reason to feel upset over my emanate demise." He turned away from us and began to walk away. "Maybe, deep down, I was hoping that I would be defeated. Either way, it matters not. I am not long for this world and neither are you two. I bid you farewell."

With that, he burst into pixels like he would in the the game and once again, we were left alone.

"So, I guess this is it," I said.

"It would appear so," Raven said sadly. I reached out and grasped her hand within my own. She gripped my hand tightly and we faced the setting sun. "At least...we get to share one final sunset together," she said.

"Yeah." We stood silently, just enjoying the sunset. "Raven..."

"Phoebe." I gave her a confused look.

"Huh?"

"My name, my real name, it's Phoebe." I smiled at that.

"Phoebe, I'm glad that I got to spend my final moments with you."

"Likewise."

Everything began to get brighter and brighter all at once. On impulse, I faced her and kissed her. She soon kissed back and nothing else mattered except what was happening there and now. Then everything erupted in white.

-Virtual-

The sound of constant beeping drew me out of the darkness of the unconscious world. I felt myself lying in a bed, covers covering my lower body. My entire body felt stiff and weak and something was on my head. I sat up and reached up with my stiff arms and gripped the helmet that was on my head. Pulling it off, I felt something fall brush past my shoulders.

Placing the helmet on the bedside next to me, I reached for whatever it was that was touching my back. I was shocked to find that it was my dreads, or at least I thought they were. They were a lot fluffier than I remembered.

That was when it hit me. I was still alive. I had died in the game yet I was still alive.

I looked around at my surroundings and saw several bouquets of flowers that were in various stages of dying, littering around my bedside along with multiple cards. Looking at myself, I saw that I was in a teal hospital gown and tubes and wires connected me to an army of machines were stuck in my arm and chest, but I didn't care.

I tore the tubing and wires from my person, triggering a loud beeping noise, but I didn't care. I had to get out of here, I had to escape.

I swung me legs over the bed and tried to stand, only to collapse onto the ground. I struggled to stand, but my legs were too weak. That was when the doctors burst into the room.

"Oh my God! He's awake! Someone call his family!" The voice sounded strangle muffled like I was hearing him while under water. I ignored the garble that they were spewing and tried to focus on getting to me feet.

"No, you mustn't get up," a voice said. "Your body is extremely atrophied, you will most likely be unable to walk for weeks to come!"

I ignored the words and continued to try and get up, only to feel hands grab me. In that second, I flashed back to the death game and I struggled in their grip. I thrashed, punched, kicked, bit, anything I could to escape the grasps of my captors. I then felt a pin prick in my shoulder and I felt my consciousness begin to fade.

"Phoebe," I whispered before my world faded to black.


	15. Chapter 15

**Epilogue**

I sighed as I put down my pencil. I guess writing about what had happened had helped to an extent, but only just. For the most part it just brought back memories, both good and bad. There was a strong feeling of survivors guilt from the whole experience. I had lived yet so many had died.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn't fall back into those kinds of thoughts. My psychologist said it was 'bad for my recovery'. I had to focus on the good things. Like how I was alive... While hundreds of others hadn't.

Nope, nope, nope! No more bad thoughts!

I closed the thick journal that held my story and stood. Giving a jaw-breaking yawn and a quick stretch, I looked towards my alarm clock and saw that it was 7:15 am. I had forty-five minutes to get to class.

Quickly getting dressed and going about my business, I grabbed my backpack and left with twenty minutes to spare. On my way out I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. I was still rather thin do to spending five years in what was basically a coma. My muscles were severely atrophied and it took almost the entirety two years since being released from the death game. My dreads now reached past my shoulders and I had to keep them in a ponytail to keep them out of my face. My eyes were slightly sunken with dark circles around them due to my lack of sleep and thin mustache covered my upper lip.

I turned away from the mirror and sighed. No use lamenting on my looks. I had to get to class.

-Real-

After the game ended, authorities took in all the surviving players for questioning. We told them everything. The floor bosses. The monsters. The red guilds. The deaths... Everything. Many red players were arrested after being ousted as murderers -thankfully they did not arrest those that had become red players in order to combat these guilds- though several were able to escape. After this we were returned to our families.

Upon my return, I was practically incarcerated by my own mother who refused to let me out of her sight. My sister was no different. The only 'escape' I had was when I had physical therapy -worst time of my life.

However, there was a fairly large problem facing us players. Education.

Many of those that played SAO were under eighteen and as such we never finished our education. Thankfully a solution was created to accommodate us. With the Education for Virtual Survivors Act, colleges were created specifically for those that were trapped within SAO. It was a godsend. Now those of us that were trapped in the game before we could finish our education could finish and get jobs.

As I walked down the paved road of the school. For the life of me, I couldn't remember the name. Ironic since I'm a student here. There was a fountain in the center of the courtyard where several students were congregating. I wasn't really sure what the fountain was supposed to be, but it gave an air of tranquility, an ambiance that was only strengthened by the calm breeze that ruffled the now green trees that surrounded the campus.

Unfortunately for me, several of the players that attend this school still saw me as 'the bad guy', despite me personally ending the game, and ostracized me from their groups. Thankfully, I wasn't completely alone.

"Hey there, Phantom." I sighed and turned to meet Darcy's borderline flirtatious grin.

"Hey, Darcy. How are you?" She pouted at me.

"Aww, come now, Phantom. Why the cold disposition? Don't you like me?" I sighed at her antics.

"Sorry, are we interrupting something?" Reaper's joked, walking up to us along with Uno and Kent.

"Very funny, Reaper," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Ugh, why do you insist on calling me that?" he asked tiredly. "I told you my name was Collin."

"Meh, Reaper sounds better," I said with a sly smirk.

"Damn you," the former samurai grumbled caused the others to laugh at him.

"Come on, there's nothing wrong with being called your player ID," Uno said once he had gotten over his fit of laughter.

"Easy for you to say, Jackson. At least your name doesn't make you sound like a killer. I swear, those agents wanted to lock me up because of my name!" Reaper said, shuddering unconsciously.

"It's your own fault for choosing that name," Kent said.

"Shut up, Kent," Reaper snapped.

"Ugh, you guys are so troublesome," Kent said.

"Now, now, I'zer. No need to quote anime here. This is a reality only zone," Darcy said with a chuckle.

"Ugh," Kent muttered.

I couldn't help but smile at them. They were all friends. Friends that stood by me when the world turned its back on me. I would be nothing without them.

* **Ring-Ring** *

The warning bell echoed through the courtyard, alerting us that classes were about to begin.

"Well, I gotta go," I said.

"We'll see you tonight, right?" Uno asked.

"You know it," I said with a smile. With a final wave, I ran off to my first class.

-Real-

I really hate math. That was the one thing that I didn't miss during my time in SAO.

I had just finished my algebra class and I was exhausted. I slumped into a bench outside of the main university. I gave an exaggerated sigh of relief as I allowed myself to go boneless. Why the hell did I have to take algebra anyway? It was such a stupid class. I mean, when the hell would I have to know what the Pythagorean theorem in real life?

It wasn't just math either. Things in this world were a lot more complicated than they were in SAO. Sure I didn't have to fight for my life day in and day out, but at least their I had a goal. We all had a goal; to escape the game and return to the real world, but now what? Now my goal is unclear and I'm not sure of what to do with my life.

What do I do after I leave this school? What job would I try to get? It was all too much after being trapped in a world with a singular goal. Here there were so many possible directions I could take that it was sickening. How the hell was I supposed to make it here?

I sighed for like the hundredth time today. Maybe things would have been better if I hadn't ended the game. Maybe living in a death game wasn't so bad. Sure I wouldn't have ever seen my family again, but things would have been so much easier. I wasn't really close to my family prior to being trapped in SAO, so what would I be missing?

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind, a pair of hands entered my vision and covered my eyes.

"Guess who~" a familiar melodic voice whispered in my ear.

"Hmm...I wonder..." I said, a playful grin spreading over my face, effectively destroying my melancholy mood. I then gripped the offenders arms, pulled them off of my face and pulled them to me.

"Eep!" the person squeaked as she was practically pulled onto my lap.

"Oh look, I caught myself a bird," I joked.

"You're no fun, DJ!" Phoebe said with an adorable pout on her face. Her raven colored hair falling over her face adding to the image.

"Oh, but I'm having plenty of fun," I said as I began to poke her in the sides.

"DJ!" she shrieked, trying to bat my hands away while attempting to hold in her laughter. "Quit it!"

I subjected her to a few more seconds of torture before I released her, allowing her to sit next to me. "You're a jerk!" she said, trying her hardest to glare at me, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Oh you wound me so," I said, clutching my heart dramatically.

"Jerk," she huffed, though I noted an air of fondness in her voice.

I smiled at her attempt to look angry at me. I loved that she was still here with me. Without her... Now I remember why I fought so hard in the end. For her. For my raven. She was taken from me in the death game and without her...I wouldn't have had the will to live. If I stayed in SAO I would have missed her. Her smile, her laugh, everything. I know it sounds cliché but she was my strength.

That got me thinking of how strange it was that we survived. We both died before the game officially ended, Phoebe before Kane was even defeated, so how were we alive? Was it Kane's reward for beating the game? I have no idea and I would never be able to ask.

When people were released from the game, authorities moved to arrest Kane, but they were too late. The VR helmet had done to him what had been done to hundreds of players. His computers were wiped clean by a rogue computer virus, his notes shredded, everything that he had ever done regarding SAO was destroyed.

To this day, nobody knows why he did what he did and with him gone, nobody ever would.

"DJ!" Phoebe shouted, causing me to jump.

"Huh?" She rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"You weren't listening to a single thing I was saying, were you?"

"Sorry," I apologized sheepishly.

"What am I going to do with you?" she sighed.

"Aww, don't be like that, Phoebe." I put on my best set of puppy dog eyes. "You know you love me!"

"Do I know that?" she asked jokingly. She then leaned over and gave me a quick peck on my cheek. "Yes, I do know that."

I grinned stupidly. I really loved this girl. A sudden realization caused me to gasp.

"What?" she asked.

"I just remembered something!" I dug around in my backpack for a few seconds before I found what I was looking for. "Aha!" I cried, pulling out a small black case.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A little something that the scientists whipped up." Little known fact about the science and engineering department here. Several of them actually worked on the original VR helmet design and still worked there part-time.

I opened the case and revealed a pair of thin rimmed sunglasses. They looked like normal sunglasses except for when you looked closer you could see dull blue lines that stretched over the bands like veins. There was also a little camera on the sides, barely noticeable to the human eye.

"Put these on," I said, offering the glasses to Phoebe. She looked at them suspiciously before relenting and putting them over her eyes. "Now close you eyes," I said.

She gave me a doubtful look, not that I could really tell with the sunglasses on, but she did as I asked. I then reached over and fiddled with a few nearly impossible to see. Pressing a final button, the once dull blue veins all lit up and the cameras whirred to life.

"What's going-" Whatever she was going to say never left her lips as she gasped loudly. She looked around, her mouth agape and I couldn't help but smile.

"Like them?"

"What...What is..." She couldn't even form a proper sentence she was so shocked. "What is this?"

"Like I said, something the scientists came up with," I said just to be cheeky.

She turned and glared at me. "You know what I mean!" I just smiled.

"Well, I called in a favor to a few of the scientists here. They knew that I was the one to stop the game, so they were more than willing to help me," I explained. I pointed to the glasses that she was wearing. "Those are the prototype to a slimmer version of the VR headset except they've been tweaked a little. Instead of shutting down all of the wearer's body functions, these only cancel sight, and like the VR helmet, they filter in images. However, unlike the helmet, these use cameras to filter in images from the outside and send them directly to your brain. I'm not sure the exact mechanics of them, but-"

I was cut off when Phoebe launched herself at me and practically choked me with her hug. She kissed me full on the mouth, causing me to blush like a school girl with a crush. When she finally pulled away, she smiled brightly, tears of joy streaming down her face.

"You talk too much," she said, wiping away the virtual waterfall that was falling down her face. I smiled softly at her and pulled her to my side.

"I know."

-Real-

It was dark out when I finally returned to my room. I threw my bag carelessly in the corner and flopped down on my bed. After school I had spent my time with Raven, going around from place to place until finally settling down at a local ice cream parlor. The entire time we were walking I happily listened to her gush about all the colors she could see and how thankful she was for her gift. I have to say, I'm pretty sure I raised the bar for guys everywhere for giving gifts to their lovers.

Like the cliché couple we were, we shared a huge sundae at the parlor and talked about inconsequential things like school or what we wanted to do when we got out. When we finally went our separate ways, the sun was going down. We did promise to meet up with the others later tonight and I looked forward to it.

I rolled over on my side and my eyes fell on a gray helmet that was sitting innocently on my desk.

When we were all released, developers went through lines and lines of code in order to destroy the program that locked players in the game. They released a revised version of the game that did not have the 'death game' format. Even though the game was deemed safe, there was talk about scraping the game, thinking that people would be too afraid to play the 'death game'. Boy were they wrong.

As it would happen, almost every single person that had been trapped in SAO grabbed the new and improved Sword Art Online. Many of us felt a connection with the virtual world, even if it had killed more than half of us. It had been our home for five years and we couldn't just forget it.

I was no different. My mom had tried to personally destroy my VR helmet, but I had stopped her. She thought I was insane to want to go back there after all that happened. In the end, as I was an adult, I had the final say and I kept the helmet and the game.

I looked over at the clock and saw it was ten till eleven. Time to meet up with everyone. I plugged in the helmet, booted up the game, and placed the helmet over my head. I laid down on my bed and smirked as the helmet began to boot up.

"Link start!" I said before I left this world.

When I opened my eyes I was in the familiar landscape of the Town of Beginnings. The sun was still setting in this world, bathing the town in an orangish glow. I took a deep breath and filled my longs with that fake air. It was oddly soothing. More soothing than the real world.

I heard my name being called and saw Reaper, Uno, I'zer, and Raven all standing a ways away, waving and smiling at me. I smiled back and began to make my way towards them.

"I'm back," I whispered to the game that was once my prison and I swear the sun seemed to shine a little brighter.

 **The End.**


End file.
